PTSB should scrap the AGM

ONE MORE THING: AS CHAIRMAN Alan Cook and bank division chief executive Jeremy Masding ponder cost-cutting measures for mortgage and savings group Permanent TSB, here's one idea – scrap the AGM.

On Tuesday, a few hundred shareholders attended the meeting to vent their spleen about how they’ve had their investment wiped out last year by the decision to recapitalise the bank with exchequer funds and sell Irish Life to the State.

They also had a moan about their high mortgage interest rates.

No doubt it was a cathartic exercise, although those who spoke so well about their own difficult personal financial circumstances had already met Cook the day before to air their frustrations.

Cathartic or not, it was a pointless exercise.

The Government owns 99.2 per cent of Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc.

It had voted by proxy before Tuesday’s meeting so the electronic poll on resolutions by those in the room was a meaningless exercise.

Many didn’t bother voting, instead deciding to get a head start in the scrum for the sandwiches and crisps.

The meeting itself costs thousands of euro to host. It’s not a whole hill of beans for a bank that made an operating loss of €65 million last year but the saving would be a start.

Ditching the stock market listing would be another.

To compensate the thousands who own the other 0.8 per cent of the company, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan might host a summer knees-up in Farmleigh for them and invite AIB shareholders along for good measure.

They could light the barbecue by burning their share certificates.