Anglo's Whelan to quit

THE HEAD of Anglo Irish Bank’s Irish operations, Pat Whelan, a long-standing executive at the bank, has told senior management at the State-owned lender that he intends to resign.

In an e-mail sent to staff yesterday, Anglo’s chief executive Mike Aynsley said Mr Whelan had advised him of his intention to step down.

Mr Whelan had left to “take up new opportunities”, he said.

He is the second senior Anglo executive to announce his resignation in a fortnight, following the decision of acting chief risk officer Peter Butler to step down.

Mr Whelan, who has worked with Anglo for more than 20 years, was a board member of the bank when it was taken into State ownership last January. He resigned from the board following Anglo’s nationalisation.

“While the bank has faced a very difficult environment through 2009, Pat has demonstrated calmness, focus, dedication and resolve in addressing the ensuing challenges,” Mr Aynsley told staff in the e-mail. “He has contributed to supporting the board and management of the bank through his leadership of the lending Ireland team.”

Prior to becoming head of the bank’s Irish operations, Mr Whelan was head of group risk.

He was appointed to the board of the bank in July 2006.

Mr Whelan was a senior executive on Anglo’s management team which oversaw the growth of the bank’s loan book from €34.8 billion at the end of the bank’s financial year to September 30th, 2005, to €74 billion at September 2008.

As managing director for lending in Ireland, Mr Whelan directly managed loans of €43 billion or 60 per cent of the bank’s overall loan book, which stood at €72 billion at the end of March.

He managed the loans of some of the State’s country’s most prominent developers and builders.

Most of the record €4 billion deficit posted by Anglo for the half year to March 31st, 2009, were as a result of losses incurred on the bank’s Irish loan book arising from the property market crash.

The losses wiped out the bank’s capital reserves, forcing the Government to inject €4 billion into the bank.

Mr Whelan had loans of about €5 million from the bank in the months leading up to the nationalisation. He received a pay package of €650,000 for the year to September 2008.