Michael Fingleton directed to appear at banking inquiry

Former Irish Nationwide Building Society chief Michael Fingleton has been directed to appear before the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry on September 2nd. This would be one of the most eagerly-awaited appearances before the committee, which began its hearings last December.

Mr Fingleton led INBS for 38 years before resigning in March 2009. This was one year before the first of two recapitalisations of the institution by the State, involving a bailout of €5.4 billion.

In 2011, INBS was folded into Irish Bank Resolution Corporation alongside Anglo Irish Bank. IBRC was later liquidated by the State in February 2013 having received a State bailout of €34.7 billion.

Mr Fingleton is slated to appear on the morning of September 2nd. In the afternoon, the committee has pencilled in appearances by INBS's former chairman Michael Walsh, and its former director John Stanley Purcell.

Separately, Ajai Chopra, who led the IMF mission to Ireland during the negotiations of the Troika bailout programme in late 2010, will appear on September 10th.

Mr Chopra will go before the committee on the morning of September 10th, with the minister for finance Michael Noonan following in the afternoon.

And Mike Aynsley, the chief executive of IBRC at the time of its liquidation, is set to appear on July 30th. Mr Aynsley, who is now based in London, has been in the headlines recently for his role in the sale of Siteserv to Denis O'Brien, which resulted in a loss to the taxpayer of €110 million. Mr Aynsley has stoutly defended in role in this transaction.

Mr Aynsley, who has volunteered to appear at the inquiry, will go before the committee in the afternoon session alongside Alan Dukes, the former chairman of IBRC.