THE STAFF representative group at State-owned Anglo Irish Bank, which represents about 1,000 employees, has been told by management that the bank may not be able to accommodate all staff who have applied for the bank’s redundancy programme.
Anglo is seeking 230 redundancies across the bank’s operations and a similar number of job cuts in a wider restructuring over the next two years. There is said to have been strong interest shown by staff in the redundancy plan.
The bank’s management had initially signalled to some staff that they may be able to offer voluntary redundancy to any employees who applied under the programme.
However, the bank recently told the staff representative group that it may not be able to approve all staff who applied to leave under the redundancy programme.
A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.
Anglo employees have until January 15th next to indicate whether they intend to apply for voluntary redundancy, despite the consultation period on the job cuts between senior management and staff ending last Friday.
The Sunday Business Post reported yesterday that the Irish Bank Officials Association was pressing another financial institution, Ulster Bank, to accept a greater number of applications beyond the 1,000 redundancies sought by the bank, given the high level of interest shown by staff.
Anglo is seeking 110 job cuts in Ireland and a further 120 from across the bank’s overseas offices in the first wave of redundancies.
The staff representative group at the bank had sought better terms and conditions under the redundancy plan, which is offering staff in Ireland four weeks’ pay for each year of service, plus statutory entitlements, up to a year’s pay.
The group has not raised the payment of deferred bonuses under the long-term incentive plan as an issue with management.
However, Anglo has indicated to staff that it is seeking a solution in relation to the sums owing to employees that have been frozen since the ban on bonuses under the State bank guarantee.
In talks with management the staff body has raised the concerns of rank-and-file employees, who feel they have been unfairly tarnished by the spate of controversies that have engulfed the bank in which they had no involvement.
The bank is the subject of several investigations focusing on the secret loans to former chairman Seán FitzPatrick, short-term deposits of €7.45 billion from Irish Life Permanent, which flattered Anglo’s balance sheet, and a share deal involving 10 Anglo customers which propped up the share price.
The departure of a number of senior Anglo executives is understood to be imminent. This follows comments by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan last week that there would be “substantial clean-out at the executive level” at the bank.
Mr Lenihan said the bank’s chief executive, Mike Aynsley, had identified and assessed the impaired loans of all current and former executives and that legal proceedings would be issued if they failed to repay their loans.
The loans are being managed directly by an external US consultant Tom Hunersen, who previously worked with Mr Aynsley at National Australia Bank.
Anglo’s legal action against former chief executive David Drumm is due to come before the Commercial Court today as the bank applies to enter the case into the court list for a later hearing. Mr Drumm is being sued over loans of €8 million. The bank has also issued proceedings against Mr Drumm and his wife Lorraine to overturn the transfer of a property from their joint names to her sole name.
Mr Drumm is represented by Eversheds O’Donnell Sweeney, while Anglo’s solicitors are McCann Fitzgerald.
