Financial Services

Jim Pettigrew latest in line of British bankers appointed to head Irish lenders

Scot recently retired as chairman of Virgin Money and CYBG, formerly Clydesdale Bank

Jim Pettigrew, AIB. Photograph: Shane O’Neill/Coalesce

Sat Oct 30 2021 - 05:40

The trend of appointing British bankers to senior positions at Irish lenders continued this week with the naming of Scot Jim Pettigrew as chairman of the board at AIB.

He recently retired as chairman of Virgin Money and CYBG plc, formerly known as Clydesdale Bank, where he would have worked closely with former AIB chief executive David Duffy, Virgin Money’s chief executive.

Pettigrew follows Richard Pym, a former chief of Alliance & Leicester, in the role. Pym, who lobbied hard for a relaxation on pay caps during his time as AIB chairman and made many speeches here giving out against Brexit, was appointed in 2014, succeeding English man David Hodgkinson, who himself had been in situ since 2010.

Bailout cash

That was a time when AIB was in the horrors after the financial crash, ultimately receiving more than €20 billion in bailout cash from the State, which continues to own 72 per cent of the lender.

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At Permanent TSB, British lawyer Robert Elliott, a former chairman and senior partner of Linklaters, took over as chairman in 2017, succeeding Englishman Alan Cook, who had been in the role since 2011.

PTSB was led by Welshman Jeremy Masding for eight years until the middle of last year. The State still owns 75 per cent of the lender, a legacy of its post-crash bailout.

Scot Archie Kane was chairman of Bank of Ireland from 2012 to 2018, when former Paddy Power chief executive Patrick Kennedy took over the role. The bank is now led by chief executive Francesca McDonagh, who hails from London.The State’s holding in the bank this week fell below 10 per cent.

There was a time when being chairman of a domestic bank was a high-profile and lucrative sinecure for grandees of Irish business. Not anymore.

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