# Will the Minister for Finance vote against the re-election of the AIB board at the AGM on Wednesday?



## Brendan Burgess (27 Apr 2020)

Back in 2017 , the Minister invited in the Chief Executives of the banks and issued a press statement afterwards: 

"Today all five banks have made statements unreservedly apologising to their customers who have been adversely and shamefully impacted by the tracker rate scandal," he said.

"Let me be very clear - the Government believes that the behaviour of the banking sector in relation to tracker mortgages was disgraceful. This is a scandal. It should never have happened and t*he Government is determined to ensure that it should be resolved.*

"The Irish people made extraordinary sacrifices to support the banks at the height of the financial crisis. Having done so, it is right that we demand, on behalf of the people, that the banking sector now, more than ever, operates in the best interests of its customers. *The legalistic approach taken by some banks to avoid doing the right thing is simply unacceptable. *Ultimately such behaviour is not in the interests of customers or shareholders.

"There has been a varying response from the banks and as a result, banks that did actually respond in a more appropriate and customer centric manner will not receive any credit for doing so. *It is now time that all banks seek to regain the trust of the Irish people by actions, not words.*"

Mr Donohoe says the banks need to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.

"The Government is determined that the banks resolve this matter as quickly as possible so over the past three days I have met with each of the Chief Executives of the five banks. At each of these meetings, I made my views clear.

"These discussions focussed on the scope of the tracker investigation, the timeline for a resolution, other follow-up actions and a review about the culture in Irish banking that allowed this to happen in the first place.

*"Based on its ongoing investigation into the tracker mortgage issue, the Central Bank is of the view that some bank behaviour up to now has been unacceptable, legalistic and not customer centred.* The Central Bank is also concerned that two banks had failed to fully identify customers impacted.

"Following my meetings this week, all the banks have committed to working with the Central Bank to fully meet its requirements. This will result in further affected customers being identified very shortly.

"I expect this aspect of the investigation to be finalised so as to minimise the uncertainty for such customers, and for redress and compensation for those further customers to swiftly follow.

"*All redress and compensation will be in line with the ‘Principles for Redress’* set by the Central Bank. In that context the five banks have made the following commitments in terms of resolving the issue."



*AIB*
4,152 customers identified as being impacted at 30th September.
Almost 3,500 or 84% have already been redressed and compensated.
Redress and compensation for remaining customers by the end of the year.



*[broken link removed]*


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Apr 2020)

It is now time for the Minister to back up his words with action by asking each of the directors of AIB if they had challenged the groupthink of AIB on the prevailing rate issue.   If they had, they deserve to be on the board. If they did not, the Minister should vote against them.

It is time that people who are paid between €100k and €365k a year for part-time jobs, should be held accountable. 

Brendan


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## Sunny (27 Apr 2020)

Where is the Central Bank in all this Brendan? From my experience, the Central Bank are all over directors of banks boards to ensure that they are not only attending but contributing at meetings by reviewing the minutes. Would be an interesting question for the CB to answer. Why did it take campaigning by you and others to bring about a change in AIB? As you say, if there is evidence of group think at board level on the issue with nobody questioning the position taken, then the board is not fit for purpose. I know someone who recently went for an interview with the CB with regard to a board nomination for a non-Irish bank. His experience would make you have faith in the CB but I do wonder about the Irish Banks and Political appointments. Are the CB going to really reject a nominee out forward by a Minister?


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Apr 2020)

Sunny said:


> the Central Bank are all over directors of banks boards to ensure that they are not only attending but contributing at meetings by reviewing the minutes



Hi Sunny

I had not realised that they review the minutes of board meetings, but it makes sense. 

As I have said, if a board member did challenge the group think, they should keep their position. But the nonsense arguments of AIB on this issue were clearly not challenged and dismissed by a majority of board members as they should have been. 

The CBI will levy a fine on AIB under the Administrative Sanctions Regime. But they should go further and investigate the directors and management team as well. 

But for the moment, I am focused on the the AGM on Wed and hoping that the major shareholder will block their reappointment. 

Brendan


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## Sunny (27 Apr 2020)

I agree with you but I don't think he will. Too big a story. Wonder will you have quiet resignations? Very few of these political appointments work. They can't even claim they weren't informed since it was all over the media.


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Apr 2020)

Sunny said:


> Wonder will you have quiet resignations?



They are all standing for re-election except Tom Foley.  

Brendan


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## zxcvbnm (27 Apr 2020)

I look forward with interest to wednesday.


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## robertpender (27 Apr 2020)

Brendan - You are 100% right - these NEDs appear to have utterly failed in their remit and the Minister needs to show some teeth and leadership on this.

Who nominates the NED candidates? Shouldn't there be a strong consumer advocate (like yourself) on that panel? Excuse my ignorance on the matter. I also thought that the central bank could use their powers to make positive changes where clear failures have been identified. Its like dejavu with the zero accountability again and again for bad behaving Financial institutions.


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Apr 2020)

The last two were nominated by the Minister for Finance. 

They have to be approved by the Central Bank but I presume that the Department of Finance sounds out the Central Bank first. 



robertpender said:


> Shouldn't there be a strong consumer advocate (like yourself) on that panel?



Thanks for nominating me.   

While I have no doubt that I would be an addition to the board, that would silence me. I am more useful on the outside advocating on issues like this.   And in many areas where I take an unpopular view e.g. that we should make it easier to repossess houses from reckless defaulters, I would be attacked as a bank director earning €100k a year for a part-time job.

Brendan


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Apr 2020)

Charlie Weston gives it a good run in today's Indo









						Minister is called on to oppose AIB re-elections over error
					

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has been called on to oppose the re-election of non-executive directors to the board of AIB tomorrow because of the bank's handling of the latest tracker cases.




					www.independent.ie


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## tnegun (28 Apr 2020)

Got a positive response from 2 TDs asking them to raise this directly with the Minister for Finance last week and I emailed them again today to remind them that the AGM is tomorrow. From the article what this caption/heading about? "_AIB insisted it never intended to analyse individual social media accounts" _it's not referenced in the body of the article itself. I'd always assumed they would monitor what was posted online but this suggests something more sinister!


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## Megafan (28 Apr 2020)

This is getting great traction at the moment. The news cycle is helping, it is just a different type of story, and who doesn't like a story where a bank gets a bit of a kicking (where it deserves one!).


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## mathepac (28 Apr 2020)

As promised I wrote to

Paschal, no response, no surprise
All the Labour TDs, no response [EDIT] Apologies, late response from Ged Nash's parliamentary secretary saying Ged is onboard.
All the Soc Dem TDs, a very supportive response received from Catherine Murphy saying they are all as one  with me (you) on the issue
All the Green Party TDs, response from Neasa Hourigan's secretarial team saying "now is not the right time", sub-text here is "we want Government jobs". I wrote back saying how disappointing I found the response and asking when would be the appropriate time to challenge inactivity/failure to represent wronged customers
All the Sinn Fein TDs, no response, surprising as I can't see them getting any Government jobs.
At least they were all emails and I didn't waste paper or postage. Very frustrating and I have a looooong memory.

Sorry not to be able to deliver better news.

Disappointing that there aren't more parties/party members with a consumer focus or manners.


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Apr 2020)

Guys that is great work. Well done!

Now is the right time. The AGM is tomorrow. There is no other time. 

Brendan


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## mathepac (28 Apr 2020)

Ged Nash's statement as covered in yesterday's Mirror and Sun

[broken link removed]

And the last part of the message I received from his parliamentary office:-

"_We hope the Minister for Finance - Pascal O’ Donohoe of Fine Gael - will take notice and we will continue to follow this issue closely.

Warm regards,

Daragh Hamilton, Parliamentary Assistant to Deputy Ged Nash of the Labour Party_"

From Catherine Murphy:-

"_ Read the newspaper article I see it was on the news at lunchtime too,  [20th April] while its good to see it resolved it has taken way too long with the Bank fighting it all the way.   I have written to the Minister for Finance earlier today,  the normal parliamentary questions process is not available at the moment,  so this is the only route available to deal with this matter.   You can take it the six SocDem TD’s will be at one on this.

Catherine Murphy TD"_


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Apr 2020)

That is excellent. 

Fair play to him. The Labour Party has been so quiet on these issues for years.  Maybe the new guys will kick it off.

Brendan


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## JSnowWinterfell (28 Apr 2020)

Brendan Burgess said:


> The last two were nominated by the Minister for Finance.
> 
> They have to be approved by the Central Bank but I presume that the Department of Finance sounds out the Central Bank first.
> 
> ...



I'm not sure you would be independent!

Is it only the Minister of Finance that has the ability to veto the vote given the state ownership stake? I am not too familiar with the issue, is it the entire board you want to have removed?


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## tnegun (28 Apr 2020)

@mathepac you should send the Labour parties response to the Greens and tell them to stop playing into AIBs hand. Their response that now is not the time is exactly what AIB is hoping for.


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Apr 2020)

JSnowWinterfell said:


> Is it only the Minister of Finance that has the ability to veto the vote given the state ownership stake? I



Yes, he has 71% of the shares. 

I would settle for the directors who were there in October 2017 when AIB met the Minister and undertook to resolve the issue.

He could vote in favour of the more recently appointed directors.

Brendan


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## mathepac (28 Apr 2020)

I totally agree @tnegun I was taken aback by their response.


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## Thinktank (28 Apr 2020)

AIB have used the FSPO to delay delivering compensation to tracker impacted customers, The Minister has also benefited by having the cases with FSPO.  The high flyers in AIB still believe they are immune to accountability. What should be asked at the AGM is? who is going to be brave enough not to hide behind the FSPO (whose decisions are not punitive enough to make banks/AIB worry about outcomes) and deliver directly for the consumers.


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## Thinktank (28 Apr 2020)

Is the AGM Online tomorrow?


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## Brendan Burgess (28 Apr 2020)

I don't think that the AGM is online.
Shareholders can call in on the phone apparently.

Brendan


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## tnegun (28 Apr 2020)

Not sure I should post it or if it will work but the phone number and conference ID for the AGM is available on the AIB website


			https://aib.ie/content/dam/aib/investorrelations/docs/Annual%20General%20Meeting/2020/important_notice_covid-19.pdf


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## rob oyle (29 Apr 2020)

mathepac said:


> I totally agree @tnegun I was taken aback by their response.


Would you be able to share the GP response? I would be interested to see what was said, I wouldn't have expected a softer answer than the Soc Dems.


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## tnegun (29 Apr 2020)

The gist of it is in Post 13


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