AIB vets executives as job losses loom

AIB, WHICH has been effectively nationalised, is vetting its most senior executives to determine whether they have a role on the new management team, the bank’s executive chairman David Hodgkinson told staff in an e-mail.

The bank was finalising details on the new senior management team and organisational structure, he told AIB employees in an e-mail circular sent on Wednesday.

The bank has begun “an evaluation programme” on the lender’s executive committee, which runs the bank, and other senior executives to identify new management.

This may be extended further “to identify a broader talent base at a later stage”, he said.

Job losses at the bank were “likely” to be signalled early over the coming months but introduced “on a phased basis” throughout the bank, Mr Hodgkinson said.

AIB had to complete a review to determine how it would be “structured and staffed in future”, and the restructuring of Irish banking would have “a significant bearing” on the bank’s structure.

Mr Hodgkinson said he could not yet say how many jobs will be cut or where they would be cut.

“I can, however, tell you that, as I’m sure you already know, the extent to which we need to restructure our business means that there will be job cuts,” he said.

“But, because of the large amount of remedial work which will need to be done, it is likely that significant resources will continue to be required in various areas until this work is completed.”

Mr Hodgkinson said the bank had identified a number of processes and systems “that need to be fixed and upgraded to make vital operating improvements”.

He told staff that the remaining capital required by the bank by the end of next month was “likely to be provided by the Government”.

AIB raised €1.4 billion in a debt buyback earlier this week that will go towards the €6.1 billion that the bank requires under the EU-IMF plan to over-capitalise the banks.

The bank is now 92.8 per cent State-owned and delisted from the main Dublin and London stock exchanges for a place on the junior Irish market.

AIB has hired consultants to review its operations.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was retained to help run the bank.