Bank chiefs face grilling

AIB chiefs will be expected to come up with some impressive answers today when they are grilled on the bank’s overcharging scandals.

Allied Irish Bank chairman Dermot Gleeson and chief executive Michael Buckley will appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service this afternoon.

Committee chair, Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming, called on the pair to come clean. He said: “I will ask who knew what and when.

“Not only was Mr Gleeson at the helm during these scandals, he was a member of AIB’s Audit Committee up until his appointment as chairman in October 2003.”

He will quiz the men on measures taken in the wake of the May apology for overcharging certain foreign exchange customers over an eight-year period, the bank’s admission that approximately 570 customers were automatically charged payment protection without their approval and the admission that AIB had been forced to repay €3.4m to some customers who were incorrectly charged on trusts they held with the bank.

Mr Fleming said he was determined to find out whether anything has really changed at AIB, or whether poor corporate governance had taken such deep root that change was now a “pious aspiration”.

“If AIB continues to ignore standard practices, which are part and parcel of normal everyday procedures in the corporate banking world, I will call on the relevant State agencies to execute their functions to the full letter of the law,” he added.

Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton expressed concern that although AIB played a pivotal role in the Irish economy, it had not always played an honourable role or maintained the highest of standards in its relationship with customers.

“This meeting of the finance committee will present a useful opportunity to pursue these concerns with the bank’s executive managers,” he said.