Lenihan says AIB cap will remain in place

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan tonight threw out plans by Allied Irish Banks to pay its new chief a salary €133,000 above a Government-imposed pay cap.

AIB wants to appoint insider Colm Doherty as its managing director with a contract exceeding the half million euro limit on top bosses’ pay. Mr Doherty, the head of the bank’s capital markets division, is already earning €633,000.