THE REPORT of the independent committee on top executives’ pay in the banks is scheduled to go before the Government at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet next Tuesday and to be published after that.
The report of the Covered Institution Remuneration Oversight Committee (Ciroc) was delivered to the Department of Finance on Tuesday. It is understood it may contain a recommended “cap” or maximum salary for senior bankers, a suggestion put to the committee for consideration by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
Senior political sources were unable to reveal the amount but said it “will put the pay of bankers in line with the pay of senior executives of similar-sized large companies”. This referred to numbers of staff, financial holdings, etc.
The three-member committee chaired by Eddie Sullivan was established to make recommendations on appropriate remuneration for senior executives in financial institutions covered by the Government’s guarantee scheme, including AIB, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, EBS Building Society, Irish Life Permanent and Irish Nationwide.
Mr Lenihan told the Dáil yesterday: “I have not as yet had time to consider the details of the report and therefore I am not in a position to put it before the House today.
“In any event, before I take any decision on the recommendations, I propose to bring the report to Government for its consideration.
“However, I can say that the basis of the report is to consider the salaries and remuneration arrangements that apply to the chief executives, chairmen and directors of the different covered institutions; establish what the salaries in comparable commercial institutions in Irish life are; and recommend scales of remuneration in accordance with that basic comparison. That is the basis upon which the committee has drawn up its recommendations.”
He continued: “We are now in possession of a report that covers the salary scales, which will be dealt with expeditiously by the Government. However, the basis of the report is a scientific assessment – not a popular assessment – of what comparable companies in Irish life obtain.
“This scientific determination rests not just on a comparison with comparable positions but also takes into account the fact, as Deputy Bruton pointed out, that these institutions are guaranteed.
“This is something the committee has to take into account and it also has to take into account the fact that these institutions are capitalised.”
When asked by Fine Gael’s Kieran O’Donnell how many pages the report contained, the Minister replied: “It has been submitted to Cabinet. That question is not in order.”
