THE BOARDS

THE DEMAND from the Green Party that there should be a clean out of bank boardrooms as part of the Nama process, has brought into focus again those long-time directors who continue in office despite the crisis hitting the sector.

The party has secured agreement that, over the next two years, all non-executive directors appointed prior to 2008 will have to step down.

In September of last year the Government brought in a guarantee scheme whereby the taxpayer guaranteed the deposits of our six major financial institutions. All six are expected to use the Nama scheme whereby troubled commercial loans will be transferred to the State-owned agency.

The bulk of the damage done to the Irish financial sector occurred during the mid 2004 to mid 2007 period, when high levels of lending were made to an overpriced commercial and residential property market.

The longest serving non-executive director of the six financial institutions is Gillian Bowler, the chairwoman of Irish Life and Permanent, who joined the board of Irish Life as far back as 1998. Other long serving non-executive directors include Eithne Tinney, who first joined the board of the EBS in 2000, and Robert Wilmers of AIB, who joined that board in 2003.

There are also a number of long serving executive directors.

The chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent, Kevin Murphy, first joined the board in 1999 while AIB executive director Colm Doherty, joined the board of that bank in 2003. The Bank of Ireland group chief financial officer, John O’Donovan, joined the court or board in 2002 while the bank’s chief executive, Richie Boucher, joined the court in 2006.