Senior AIB chiefs to step down

AIB’s top three directors, chairman Dermot Gleeson, chief executive Eugene Sheehy and finance director John O’Donnell, have resigned in the face of intense pressure to go from the Government and institutional investors.

The dramatic clear-out of the top brass at Ireland’s biggest bank comes in the wake of the resignation of the chief executives of the other banks supported by the Government’s bank guarantee scheme – Anglo Irish Bank Corp, Irish Life & Permanent Plc, Bank of Ireland Plc and Irish Nationwide Building Society.

Mr Sheehy, 54, who said just last month said that he planned to stay in his post for the next six years, will remain in his post until a successor is appointed. Mr Gleeson will leave in July and Mr O’Donnell will retire in August, the bank said.