UK MORTGAGE lender Bradford Bingley, which was nationalised late last year, issued its annual report earlier this week and it details the influence on the board of Irishman Michael Buckley, AIB’s former chief executive.
Buckley earned £51,667 in fees with BB in 2008, the second lowest amount paid out by the troubled buy-to-let lender to the 12 people who served on its board last year.
Buckley had a busy year, attending 36 meetings of either the board or its subcommittees. There was a lot to sort out.
BB wrote off more than £500 million in bad loans last year. At the end of September, the bank’s £50 billion mortgage book was taken over by the UK government and its savings business and branch network was sold to Spain’s Santander after regulators decided it could not continue. The lending book is now being wound down.
Four non-executive directors resigned in November with only Buckley, who joined as a director in July 2007, and Louise Patten retaining their seats on the board. The executive team had already been shaken up by that time.
Post-nationalisation, Buckley found himself as chairman of BB’s audit committee and one of only two members of the remuneration committee. Their fees for 2009 have been frozen.
Buckley is no stranger to corporate upheavals. It was on his watch as head of AIB that rogue trader John Rusnak racked up $691 million in fraudulent trades at its Allfirst subsidiary in the US.
He was also in charge when AIB was hit with a foreign exchange overcharging scandal. On both occasions, Buckley dodged the bullet before retiring in 2005.
Last May, Buckley became chairman of DCC after Jim Flavin resigned his position in the wake of a Supreme Court finding of insider trading against him.
Buckley, who was DCC’s senior independent director, and the rest of the board had consistently supported Flavin until he eventually fell on his own sword.
