Aynsley confirmed as Anglo chief

NATIONALISED ANGLO Irish Bank has confirmed the appointment of Australian banker Mike Aynsley as its new chief executive.

Mr Aynsley – who has more than 30 years’ experience in banking and financial consulting in Australia, New Zealand, the Asia-Pacific region and the UK – takes over the role on September 7th.

Donal O’Connor, who has been running Anglo as executive chairman since February, will revert to the role of non-executive chairman on the same date.

Mr Aynsley’s appointment was made following consultation with Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan representing the State, the sole shareholder in the bank.

Mr Lenihan welcomed the appointment, saying he intended to appoint Mr Aynsley to the board of Anglo “in due course”.

He said he looked forward to the leadership and direction that Mr Aynsley would bring to the State-owned lender, particularly in relation to the board’s development of a restructuring plan.

The Minister said the restructuring plan, which would set out the bank’s future strategy, would be submitted to the European Commission for approval by the end of November under state aid rules.

This follows the Government’s investment of €3.8 billion after losses of €4.1 billion in the six months to the end of March last wiped out the bank’s capital reserves.

Mr Aynsley, whose appointment was also approved by the Financial Regulator, said the bank had “formidable challenges ahead” and he would meet them with “determination, responsibility and hard work”.

A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed that Mr Aynsley’s remuneration would be in line with the Government’s €500,000 pay cap for bank chief executives.

Mr O’Connor said Anglo’s focus was to “stabilise and de-risk the bank and, in time, to create options for the shareholder”, and that the appointment of Mr Aynsley and new management would “provide added impetus towards realising these objectives”.

The bank’s chairman previously said Anglo would appoint a new chief financial officer, head of lending, head of treasury, head of operations and head of finance.

He said the bank would fill some of these jobs with external candidates and that the new chief risk officer would be an outsider.

Mr Lenihan said he looked forward to “further appointments to senior management roles”.

Mr Aynsley was chief risk officer in New Zealand for ANZ Bank and the National Bank of New Zealand in 2004 to 2005, and has worked closely with regulatory and government authorities.

Since January 2006 he has worked with the Asian Development Bank in southeast Asia in risk and liquidity management.