The chief executive of AIB's US division and chairman of its American subsidiary, First Maryland Bankcorp, Mr Jerry Casey, has announced that he intends to retire in 1999 after 41 years with the bank.
Mr Casey was paid £1.3 million last year in salary, bonuses, incentives and pension contributions, almost more than the combined packages of the three executive directors based in the Republic.
He is to be replaced as chief executive of US operations by Mr Frank Bramble, president and chief executive officer of First Maryland Bankcorp and an executive director of AIB. Mr Casey will leave his position as chief executive of the USA division and his seat on the AIB Board on October 31, 1998, but will continue as chairman of First Maryland Bankcorp until his full retirement. It is not clear who will take over as chairman of First Maryland Bankcorp in 1999.
AIB said Mr Casey was due to retire in February 2000 but has decided to step down two months earlier at the end of next year. Mr Bramble, an American, joined AIB's group executive committee earlier this year and has been with First Maryland Bankcorp since 1994. Before that he held a number of senior positions with banks in the United States.
AIB's US division consists of First Maryland Bankcorp, Dauphin Deposit Corporation and its treasury, corporate and retail operations based in New York.
First Maryland recently appointed consultants to advise on the re-naming and re-branding of the US bank. The bank is currently integrating Dauphin Deposit Corporation, which it acquired last year, and Mr Bramble is understood to have been involved in this process.
Pre-tax profits at First Maryland fell by 25 per cent to $63.5 million (£42 million) for the three months to the end of September. But the underlying result was a 12 per cent rise in pre-tax profits when a $28 million once-off gain was excluded.
The group chief executive of AIB, Mr Tom Mulcahy, said Mr Casey played a pivotal role in AIB's "highly successful expansion in the United States". According to the 1997 annual report of the bank, Mr Casey had 464,750 shares in the company.
