Senior AIB manager was a director of several property companies

A senior executive, based at AIB headquarters in Dublin, is a director or former director of a number of companies in the property sector, including one in which he worked alongside a senior AIB manager from Galway

A SENIOR manager with AIB is a shareholder in a property company that lost €7.24 million last year.

The company, which has an address at the manager’s home in Palmerston Park, Rathmines, Dublin, had bank loans in excess of €23 million at the end of that financial year.

The company, Marchbury Properties, is owned by senior AIB banker Tommy Hopkins and businessman Thomas Durcan, who each hold one of the company’s two issued shares.

The company banks with First Active, Forster Street, Galway, and Bank of Ireland, Walkinstown, Dublin, according to its accounts. It was incorporated in April 1995 but Mr Hopkins did not join the board until 2002.

Its records show three unsatisfied mortgages from First Active, taken out in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

The company built 222 houses in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, in the year to the end of April 2007, by which time it had commenced building houses in Terenure, Dublin, the accounts state.

They say the company also has sites at Maynooth, Co Kildare and Donabate, Co Dublin, “for further development”. The company’s loss in the 2008 year compared with a pre-tax profit of €3.55 million the previous year.

Accumulated profits at the end of 2008 were down to €1.5 million, from €8.78 million at the end of the previous year.

Mr Hopkins was a director of the company from January 2002 to November 2003, when he resigned and Maireád Hopkins, of the same address as the company, joined the board.

Mr Hopkins, who is based at the AIB Bankcentre in Ballsbridge, is a general manager with AIB Commercial Banking, and a director of AIB Commercial Services Ltd. There was no response to calls to his office. He is a director or former director of a number of other companies in the property sector, including one in which he worked alongside a senior AIB manager from Galway.

Both Mr Hopkins and John Hughes, head of business banking at AIB’s Eyre Square offices in Galway, are former directors of Quenchurch Ltd, a guaranteed company without shares and with an address at Mr Hopkins’ home.

The principal activity of the company is “providing management services on apartments”, according to its accounts for the year to March 2008, when it had a turnover of €47,000. It banked with Ulster Bank, High Street, Kilkenny. The company has financial dealings with Marchbury. Mr Durcan is also a director.

Mr Hughes is a director of Banagher Investments Ltd, a company incorporated in January 2000 and with an address at Mr Hopkins’ home. Mr Hopkins is a former director and Ms Hopkins is a current director, as is Mr Durcan. The company is owned by Mr Hughes, Mr Durcan and Mr Hopkins.

The company registered a mortgage with Anglo Irish Bank in 2000 against property in the Blackhall Place/Hendrick Street/ Oxmanstown Lane area of Stoneybatter, Dublin. The mortgage remains outstanding, according to the files in the Companies Registration Office.

However, the company’s accounts indicate shareholders’ funds of just €190 and no significant borrowings. It banks with Anglo Irish Bank, Forster Street, Galway.

Mr Hopkins was also a director of Strandfield Ltd, a company now in liquidation and which had its registered office on Palmerston Park in Rathmines, Dublin. The company went into voluntary liquidation in 2004 with an estimated surplus of €660,000.

Mr Durcan was also a director and the company was owned by the two men. Its last set of accounts showed it banked with Bank of Ireland, Montrose Branch, Dublin. Mr Durcan and Mary Durcan are the owners of Kingbrook Builders Ltd, Terenure Road East, Dublin, which banks with the AIB Bankcentre Branch, Ballsbridge, Dublin. The accounts for the year to the end of September 2008, show shareholders’ funds of €454,443.

AIB Code Of Conduct

Extracts from AIB code of ethics that gives guidance to employees in their work with the bank:

" the values of honesty, integrity and fairness are at the core of enduring business as well as personal relationships.

These values must be embedded within the AIB culture. The code is based upon these values.

"[Staff must] take all reasonable steps to avoid situations in which a conflict of interest may arise, or appear to arise between the personal interests of our employees and those of our customers or the business of the group. Where any such conflict of interest arises and cannot be avoided we ensure that our customers are treated fairly.

"Additionally, senior executives are required to abide by the leadership code, Leading by Example – Leadership behaviours for senior executives of AIB Group.

"Behaving ethically is fundamental to AIB and breaches of our high standards will not be tolerated. A breach of this code may lead to disciplinary action.