merrion street

The Government has today informed Allied Irish Banks (AIB) that it has no objection to the decision of the board of the bank to nominate Mr. David Duffy as its preferred unanimous choice for appointment as its Chief Executive Officer. In conveying this message the Minister for Finance, Mr. Michael Noonan T.D., said:

"I would like to thank David Duffy for accepting the position of AIB CEO and wish him well in the very important role of reinvigorating AIB. I note that he is the unanimous preferred choice of the board and brings a wealth of international banking experience from his work for a number of leading banks around the globe.

In the 31^st March announcement of the restructuring of the Irish banking system, the Government set out that AIB would be a universal pillar bank working for the Irish economy by supporting its personal and business customers. Given the importance of this role and the very large amounts of capital invested by the Irish State in AIB, the Government was determined that the bank should recruit a CEO, in accordance with prevailing policy, of the highest calibre so as to yield the best possible return to the taxpayer.

Separately, I would like to thank David Hodgkinson for the leadership he has provided to AIB and am pleased that he is remaining on the board as non executive Chairman."

The Government is pleased that the remuneration policy set down by the previous Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, in capping the salaries of bank CEOs has been applied to this appointment."