How long more are we going to have to wait for the banks to be filleted?

Noonan rejects AIB’s €300,000 payout packages

By Laura Noonan

Wednesday June 08 2011

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan has shot down AIB’s plans to give laid-off workers redundancy packages that could range from €50,000 to €300,000.

Sources last night confirmed that AIB had been asked to submit “revised” redundancy proposals after the Department of Finance rejected the bank’s initial plans.

Those plans are believed to have included “industry norm” payments of six weeks’ salary per year of service plus an extra two weeks’ statutory payments for every year worked.

The state-owned bank is also believed to have asked for permission to cap the payments at between two and 2.75 years’ salary.

Based on that package, a bank worker on a €50,000 salary entitled to the maximum payout could walk away with €137,500.

Senior executives on €100,000 a year could get as much as €275,000, if they’d worked at the bank for more than 20 years.

Similar packages have been paid by other banks, but AIB’s proposals were perceived as “too generous” in the context of a bank that’s been bailed out to the tune of €7.2bn and will need billions more before the year is out.

Mr Noonan and his officials are also mindful of the fact that AIB’s package will create a precedent for the state-owned banks, who will shed thousands more jobs over the coming years.

The Department of Finance last night declined to comment on the situation with AIB.

A spokesman for the bank refused to confirm any talks with the Department of Finance but said discussions with trade unions were “ongoing”. “We wouldn’t want to comment at this point,” he added.

Larry Broderick, head of bank workers’ trade union IBOA, said the bank had not told them that approval had been sought from the department for any package.

“They keep reminding us that whatever we agree has to be sanctioned by the Department of Finance, but that’s a different thing,” he said.

“They can put whatever package they want in place (with Finance) but unless they agree it with us there won’t be any redundancies.”

A meeting between IBOA and AIB bosses is scheduled for Friday – Mr Broderick said his side would use the meeting to formally push for “industry norm” payments.

Mr Broderick said he had expected things to move more swiftly after AIB announced the job cuts in April and that there was a “concern that things are being dragged out indefinitely”.

“The discussions have been stalled for the last couple of weeks because AIB have just appointed a new management team and they haven’t made their plans yet,” he added.

Meanwhile, staff at the Central Bank will today vote through a new agreement that will reward top performers with up to five days’ extra holidays a year.

The ‘performance management system’ replaces the bank’s old bonus system, which was disbanded after the financial crisis hit in 2008.

Under the new scheme, staff can earn ‘merit days’ for hard work and may ultimately be paid up to half the ‘merit days’ as a “cash benefit”.

  • Laura Noonan

Irish Independent

  • Skint bank thinks it can afford 300k redundancy payouts. I give up. :rolleyes:

“Industry norm” of 6 weeks - FFS.

My instinct tells me that this has been done to demonstrate to the union that that level of redundancy payment won’t fly.

Ya, cause the banks has been through a load of redundancies before.
It’s harder get thrown out of the bank than it is the Hillgrove in Dingle.

If they won’t accept the redundancy then put the cunts on minimum wage and kill every single perk they have. Make them work night shift and weekends and they won’t be long walking themselves without a fat cheque in their hand.

If the govt felt statutory was inadequate to compensate laid-off workers in any industry then they would have raised the statutory redundancy terms. They didn’t, ergo they feel statutory is adequate, ergo given that the government is paying these workers and statutory terms are terms they deem fair, then these workers should obviously get statutory.

Done, next.

This X10

What’s the norm for a bankrupt company? A PFO I presume

Certain companies generally banks but also the likes of NAMA businesses and Quinn Group etc are being protected to the detriment of Irish society

It’s a joke, an absolute joke. They would be haunted to get statutory redundancy.

When you lose your job, you either sign on, get another job or move abroad. If private companies with lots of money want to give over and beyond statutory for whatever reason that’s great and fair play to them. I don’t know how anyone would have illusions of anything more than that. WE THE PEOPLE should pay out what we’re obliged to and no more. Fook sake giving bank officials hundreds of thousands, we’re in a new paradigm now, here’s a carriage clock, best of luck in the future.

But it’s the bank SS. Those people expected a job and pension for life.

"Meanwhile, staff at the Central Bank will today vote through a new agreement that will reward top performers with up to five days’ extra holidays a year.

The ‘performance management system’ replaces the bank’s old bonus system, which was disbanded after the financial crisis hit in 2008.

Under the new scheme, staff can earn ‘merit days’ for hard work and may ultimately be paid up to half the ‘merit days’ as a “cash benefit”.

This is also quite amusing, merit increases for regulators that were unable to regulate.

Explain paying yourselves bonuses ye cunts.

Eggs have been thrown at Bank of Ireland’s chairman Pat Molloy and CEO Richie Boucher at the bank’s shareholder meeting in UCD in Dublin. The eggs missed the two executives.

They were thrown by shareholder Gary Keogh from Blackrock, Co Dublin. He was escorted from the meeting by security. He also threw eggs at AIB’s AGM in 2009.

Outside the meeting today he said throwing the eggs had helped ‘bring his blood pressure down’.

Shareholder Mary Farrell told Mr Molloy that she had been robbed, and that the group was robbing shareholders again this year. She said the board was guilty of elder abuse

Earlier, Bank of Ireland chairman Pat Molloy told shareholders the outflow of deposits from the bank had stabilised. He said Ireland’s sovereign debt crisis had caused withdrawals of deposits which were sensitive to downgrades by rating agencies.

Mr Molloy said the environment for the group remained difficult, but he said there were indications that the economy has stabilised.

He said that progress has been made to make BoI a more focused bank, but that but factors outside its control had affected the bank. He added that losses on loans transferred to NAMA were higher than anticipated.

Mr Molloy said the bank’s costs had been reduced by 17% since 2008, with staff numbers down by 2,400 or 14% and further redundancy programmes are underway. He said the group’s total loan book has been reduced by 20% since September 2008, and its strategy was to return to a more traditional retail structure.

Bank of Ireland also said it wanted to retain its College Green branch despite a desire by the State to acquire it.

Chairman Pat Molloy said the Dublin city centre branch had 30,000 customers and was an important part of Bank of Ireland’s bottom line

AIB says it has already booked the losses from its 49.99% stake in a Bulgarian bank which it sold in May for €100,000 although it originally paid €216m in 2008.

A spokeswoman said the value of its stake was written down to zero over several years, and finally written off completely in 2010.

She confirmed that the purchase price of €100,000 reported in Bulgaria was accurate but she added that it would not affect this year’s accounts.

AIB said in May that it had agreed to sell the stake, but did not disclose the price paid.

A statement on BACB’s website said the stake had been bought by Clever Synergies Investment Fund (CSIF), which is owned by businesswoman Tsvetelina Borislavova.

BACB is a publicly-listed bank based in Sofia in Bulgaria, and is focused on small to medium sized enterprises.

Media reports in Bulgaria suggest the buyer was also likely to take on BACB’s outstanding debt.

AIB wants decision on interest payment

AIB has asked the High Court to determine whether it should pay interest due on bonds which are the subject of a legal challenge by an investment firm.

Aurelius Capital is challenging AIB’s decision to impose losses on some of its subordinated, or junior, bondholders.

AIB said that if the challenge were successful, interest on these bonds would be due on June 25. AIB wants the court to declare that its obligation to pay the interest is suspended, pending the outcome of the Aurelius case.

The hearing requested by AIB will take place on Friday. AIB says it will pay the amount due to the agent for the bonds, Citibank, but will instruct it to hold the money until the court’s decision.

You just have to laugh.
Some cunt will probably be entitled to a bonus for raising the 100k.
That business woman who they sold the shares to is also the Bulgarian prime ministers girlfriend.

I applied for a very very small loan this week in the bank. When applying I was more or less asked about every cent of money I had, savings, post office, almost what I had in my pocket etc. All fairly routine now I figured.
This evening I received a call from the b(w)anker processing my application asking me about my online betting as he had gone through my transactions and noticed I had done well enough at times with my betfair account. I straight away went on the defensive as I thought this was going to seriously hinder my chances of getting this loan. It turns out all he wanted to know was if I could maintain this performance and almost count it as income and if I’d chat to him about how to bet on horses. WTF!!

:lol:

Quality

Fucking hell. Jokers.

Hilarious!

Some people could genuinely count it as a second income though.

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Elderfield calls for end to cap on banker salaries

Monday, July 25, 2011 - 04:43 PM

Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield has today called for the scrapping of caps on bankers’ pay.

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Mr Elderfield said the pay caps were a barrier to encouraging fresh talent into the banks.

He said that the banking watchdog is planning an investigation into the fitness and probity of all directors of institutions re-capitalised by the taxpayers.

He warned however that capping the pay of bank bosses could make the recruitment of fresh talent more difficult.

“The fact is that, bar one bank we’ve heard this morning, you guys, the taxpayers, own the whole of the banking system, and I think we need some fresh blood in the banking system, and I think with the caps in place its going to be very hard to be able to get that,” he said.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/elderfield-calls-for-end-to-cap-on-banker-salaries-514168.html#ixzz1T98qT6cy

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Well said Matthew Elderfield. How naive of people to think that banking talent like myself would be tempted by an Irish bank paying peanuts.