Public Outrage at Bank of Ireland extravagant bonuses

Last Saturday I spent a pleasant few hours with fellow hill walkers strolling along the 14KM stretch along the banks of the River Dodder. The controversial topic of Bank of Ireland bonus payments got an airing. These men and women of the world walking with me were aghast at what emerged in a Department of Finance Report on the matter as this Bank gave the Irish public the V sign.

A parliamentary question sought information in November 2010 on bonus payments to staff made by banks since the commencement of the Irish Government guarantee in September 2008. The Bank of Ireland advised the Department of Finance that “no performance-related bonuses were paid with respect to the financial year to March 2009 and December 2009”.

The statement added “a small number of people at middle management level received payments which reflected either guarantees which were agreed on their joining the Group or deferred payments where the historic performance criteria had been achieved and the payment was deferred over several years. For commercial reasons Bank of Ireland do not disclose the amount of such payments. The Bank advises that it had not legal discretion in these matters”

The loss at Bank of Ireland for the 9 months ended 31 December 2009 had risen to €1,813 million compared to €23 million for the year ended 31 March 2008. Impairment charges in this period reached €4,055 million compared to €1,435 in the year ended 31 March 2009. The Irish Government was forced to invest €3.5 billion in preference stock so as to bolster its capital base.

It transpired that the information provided by Bank of Ireland was incorrect and that bonus and quasi bonus payments from September 2008 to December 2010 amounted to a staggering €66.37 million – all linked to performance.

A patina of legal legitimacy is not an indication that any transaction is ethical, moral or affordable.

The hill walkers are utterly mesmerised that Bank of Ireland could be so utterly undermined in the Bank by duplicity, betrayal, self-serving slovenliness and skulduggery. These characteristics are evident not just in grotesque scale of bonus payments, which the Bank (and the public) cannot afford and untruthful answers to parliamentary questions, but there is now also evidence of incomplete and misleading information in the due diligence process prior to the public subscription for shares, in the attempted enhancement of the Group Chief Executives pension terms last year and the tardiness by the Bank in relation to the subsequent impeded and delayed investigation into the November 2010 misrepresentations to Dáil Éireann.

1. These bonuses, especially in the prevailing circumstances, amount to the barefaced looting of society – on a scale commonly seen in Russia, Africa and Asia.
   
2. The explanation that bonuses are ‘open to different interpretations’ and the comment by Arthur Cox that Bank of Ireland “used a restrictive and uncommon interpretation of what constituted a performance bonus” describes a crazy mentality of a type not untypical of occupants of padded cells in a lunatic asylum, whose capacity to communicate in vernacular English is very limited; who have ‘no intention to mislead’ and are likely to recognise this in lucid moments to avoid personal embarrassment.
3. The implication that the Irish people, who have been fleeced of €3.5 billion by Bank of Ireland, can now be bought for €2 million paid by Bank of Ireland to the Exchequer ‘to recognise the difficulties cased by the way the Bank handled the matter’  will simply  create a veneer of indulgence and camouflage to enable them to be further fleeced of, not just €66.37 million, but an additional €21 million in respect of bonuses and commissions in 2011 and other amounts in 2012 is outrageous and abominable.
4. The suggestion that any future parliamentary questions in relation to personnel or other important matters be authorised by the Group Chief Executive beggars belief on grounds of credibility. The Report indicates that overall payments totalling €1.2 million were not disclosed in the due diligence process prior to the public bailout.
5. The Sunday Tribune on 30 January 2011 that the Group Chief Executive of Bank of Ireland directly intervened with the planning authorities in October 2007 in connection with the proposed Sean Dunne development that would have cloned Jurys/Berkeley Court Ballsbridge hotel sites with Calcutta, had it been heeded?

The text of the letter from Richie Boucher to Dublin City Council planning authorities read:

“Dear Sir

Re Jurys / Berkeley Court Site

I refer to the above and write to confirm my strong support for this landmark proposal which I believe will significantly benefit the City of Dublin and its citizens through helping enhance the concept of a living city and providing buildings of significant architectural merit befitting Ireland of the 21^st century. Yours faithfully, Richie Boucher, Chief Executive Retail Financial Services Ireland.”

Dublin City Council granted partial permission for the Ballsbridge development but it disallowed Dunne’s application to build a 37-floor skyscraper.

Response of dithering Taoiseach to Boucher pension deal is devastating

I watched with quivering embarrassment, revulsion and genuine horror, as Brian Cowen, our Taoiseach, waffled on Monday in Tullamore and again yesterday in the Dáil Éireann about the €1.4 million spent by the Court jesters of Bank of Ireland bloating the pension entitlement of their chief executive, the esteemed insider, Mr Boucher.  Cowen states that he has no legal power to intervene in this sacred contract between rational parties, but suggests that it would be ‘helpful in public perception terms’ if Boucher refused to accept the bloated pension.  Cowen urges public sector workers, who are to vote on a pay freeze of indeterminate duration, that they ‘should see the big picture’.  I have no doubt they will and see it very clearly.  They will see it in kaleidoscopic clarity.

That, my dear readers, is precisely how the Irish financial system was regulated by flaccid, stuttering, incompetent, bow-legged, politically compromised morons and gobshites, before the economy collapsed from exhaustion in early 2007 with a half million people lost their jobs and everybody’s equity holdings fleeced to near extinction. 

The verbal and leadership skills of our regulators and leaders did not move beyond nuanced euphemisms and when combined into paragraphs these looked and sounded as robust as a pre-fabricated hen house in a raging storm.

When a chief executive presides over a company that loses €1.8 billion, equivalent to no less than 98% of its market capitalisation and that loss is substantially attributable to his own decisions, what usually follows is the presentation of a crisp P-45.  Very few are presented with a gilded pension allowing them to retire with defined benefits of a magnitude that is beyond the range of most people.

Cowen will down in history as the most dangerous Minister for Finance the country ever had; the Minister who supervised an expansionary credit bubble that has beggared the nation the consequences of which he never understood.  As Taoiseach, he presents as a delusionary, curmudgeon who blames everyone but his own ineptitude for what has transpired. and never a word of apology.

His body language and demeanour when referring to Boucher has been as taciturn as might be anticipated had an elderly, blind, poodle piddled beside him on the floor of a convent parlour.

Contract, or no contract, this is a matter of fundamental public interest, morality and moral authority - the Taoiseach's moral authority.

The value of the Bank of Ireland Staff Pension funds are reporting a deficit of over €1.6 billion, a deficit that has increased by over 200% since 2008.  The funds' assets are now less than 70% of the present value of future obligations.

If this adverse trend were to continue, even at a more moderate rate of deterioration, there is a real and grave threat that there will not be enough resources to pay Bank of Ireland pensions' in full.
How would Fianna Fail and Green Party candidates feel about canvassing Bank pensioners' in forthcoming elections if they are only receiving forty or fifty percent of the pension payment they are entitled to and personally paid for, against a background of the Taoiseach's apparent indifference to the Boucher gilded pension deal that has been funded from gigantic Bank of Ireland losses and bailout money?

Bank of Ireland’s response to CIROC Report

The publication of the Annual Report of Bank of Ireland for the nine months ending 31 December 2009 provides the first opportunity to see how the Bank is complying with the recommendations of the Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC).

Their recommendations were contained in the report made to the Minister for Finance on 27 February 2009, two days after the appointment of insider, Richie Boucher, as chief executive of Bank of Ireland was announced. 

 

Position	Recommended by CIROC – adjusted for 9 month period	Actual
R Boucher Chief Executive	€517,500	€1,996,000	including a pension fund top-up of €1,490,000
P Molloy Governor	€138,000	€194,000	for six months from 3 July 2009
Chair of Major Committee	€51,750	€86,000     €96,000   €60,000   €60,000 €67,000	Deputy Governor and senior independent director Group Audit Committee Group Remuneration Committee Court Risk Committee Pension Fund Trustees
Ordinary board member		€41,250	1 @ €26k for 3 months 1 @ €37k for 6 months 2 @ €59,000 1 @ €65,000

 

Boucher’s Pension

Directors’ of the Bank of Ireland are members of the Bank Staff Pension Fund, a defined benefit plan, which is a contributory scheme at the rate of 2½% of salary. Benefits are based on an accrual rate of ^1/₆₀ of pensionable salary for each year of a Director’s pensionable service with a maximum of ⁴⁰_/60th payable on normal retirement, at age 60.

Boucher became joined Bank of Ireland in December 2003. He was appointed an executive director on 6 October 2006; chief executive on 25 February 2009.

His normal retirement should be in 2017 at which time he would have accumulated 13 years of pensionable service providing him with a pension of ¹³_/60th of his final salary - €261,625 based on prevailing rates. But the impact of this deal is that can take a hop, skip and jump at the age of 55 with close to €400,000 in his pocket.  That is over twice the salary of the Minister for Finance and significantly more than all top-level office holders whose positions are of systemic importance.

Pension Fund Deficit

The Bank Staff Pension Fund is running a deficit of €1,631,000,000 and its assets are only capable of meeting under 70% of the present value of its obligations amounting to €5.3 billion. How is it possible for a pension fund with a deficit of this order to take on additional burden?  What tone does this decision indicate to staff and stakeholders’ generally?

This pension fund was closed to new members from 1 October 2006, five days before Boucher became an executive director and the only exception was in respect of entry-level employees who joined Bank of Ireland between that date and 21 November 2007. All others are obliged to become members of the Bank of Ireland Group Pension Fund of the group’s UK pension fund – both of which are hybrid schemes which include elements of a defined benefit and a defined contribution scheme.

The CIROC Report is scathing in its criticism of bank top-management who make little, or no, contribution for their pensions and advocated that pension arrangements for senior executives should be at least broadly similar to those applicable to the generality of the staff. How many staff in Bank of Ireland can retire at the age of 55 with 11 years’ service and a pension based on 59% of their salary?

Share Ownership Policy

The Annual Reports of Bank of Ireland for 2005, 2006 , 2007 and 2008 states that ‘executive directors are expected, over time, to build a Group stock ownership equivalent to a minimum of 100% of salary’.

Boucher owns 33,127 ordinary shares in Bank of Ireland. If he were as attentive to this policy as he expects the Bank to be to his pension he would own a minimum of 543,307 ordinary shares.

Perhaps Boucher and Molloy could approach the Boucher pension issue with the same level of indifference that he displays towards the share ownership policy.

Pathetic half-year at Bank of Ireland

THE Interim Report of the Bank of Ireland for the six months ended 30 September 2009 provides the first public insight into the stewardship of chief executive Richie Boucher, the insider chosen by the Court of Directors, to be chief executive last February.  The results will do little to fortify shareholders or inspire taxpayer confidence either in him, or in the Court of Directors that selected him

A loss of €979 million is recorded.  The level of impaired loans has increased by a whopping 61% from  €3,249 million to €8,571 million – 2.4 times the amount invested by taxpayers this year. 

The impairment charge on loans and advances to customers increased to €1,787 million (+561%)  for the six months ended 30 September 2009 and compares to a charge of €267 million for the six months ended 30 September 2008. Income declined €273 million from €2,003 million to €1,730 million while operating expenses were €99 million less.

The accompanying presentation includes many expression in pidgin English including the mandatory crap about the ‘challenging operating environment’ .  Do these morons’ ever acknowledge that ‘outlook’s’ are always ‘challenging’.  ‘Challenge’ is the essence of the free market environment.  Competence to challenge effectively and successfully is the elusive ingredient that separates the reassured performer from the fly-by-night chancer.

The leadership of the Irish financial sector are the authors and architects of that operating environment and they are now its pall bearers.  Ego-centricity, insatiable greed and unadulterated hypocrisy are their defining features of those who kicked and mutilated all vital economic organs of Irish society.  They were as content seeing house buyers ripped off over the past five years as they are putting their snouts into the taxpayers’ resources to compensate the venality.

The word ‘challenging’ should be left to Mr Barrington and his colleagues on the board of Aer Lingus while the financial sector could usefully use the word consequences much more extensively instead. The ‘good businesses’ and ‘resilient business models’ of Bank of Ireland are mentioned several times.  But is there anything that is either ‘good’ or ‘resilient’ about these results?  Perhaps the expression ‘delusional’ would have been more honest.

The slogan that really piqued by curiosity was “we are committed to achieving more conservative balance sheet metrics”.  Perhaps someone who has contacted a sexually transmitted disease is just as similarly to say “I am committed to achieving a more sustainable and defensible lifestyle and I promise not to continue infecting innocent people”

The Boucher Legacy

These results are the first instalment of the Boucher legacy. Are any further instalments necessary?

Boucher was in charge of Retail, Republic of Ireland since November 2005 and he flooded the supply and buy side of the property sector with credit.  This Division returned a loss of €655 million against a divisional income of €720 million.  Chief executives in the US and other markets who return results as appalling as these are typically fired before they even reach the public domain.

Ireland accounts for €34 billion of the €87 billion in the Bank.  Loans to Irish customers in the most recent six months totalled €62.4 billion and the total loan book was  €135 billion. 

€28 billion of retail loans were in Irish residential mortgages; €16 billion was lent to the property and construction sector in Ireland; €15.4 billion was lent to the productive small and medium Irish enterprises and €3 billion was lent to Irish personal customers.  In summary – 70% of loans in Ireland were to the property sector and total Irish lending was equivalent to 183% of Irish customer deposits.  Ireland provides 39% of total deposits at Bank of Ireland but accounts for 46% of its loans and advances which are heavily skewed in favour of the property bubble.  That is Boucher’s direct legacy. 

The market capitalisation of Bank of Ireland is in currently in the region of €2 billion.  This compares to the €3.5 billion provided this year by Irish taxpayers to shore up a rapidly eroding capital base.

Bank of Ireland Life actually returned a profit of €57 million in the six months to 30 September 2009.  The person in charge of this was Des Crowley who preceded Boucher as Head of Retail in Ireland.  He has not taken over Boucher’s poisoned retail chalice.

 

Executive Director Shareholding

There has been a long-standing policy at Bank of Ireland that executive directors would over time build a beneficial share ownership in Bank of Ireland equivalent to 100% of salary.  The following summarises the extent to which this policy has been executed.

Maurice A. Keane

Keane was group chief executive from February 1998 to February 2002.  His total remuneration in 2001-02, his final year of tenure was €955,000.  He owned 1,189,280 shares at 31 March 2002 which were worth €14.75 million at that time.  He fully complied with the policy.

Michael D Soden

Soden was group chief executive from 1 March 2002 until he abruptly resigned  29 May 2004 after it was discovered that he was trawling the web sites of escort agencies in Las Vegas on his office computer.  Soden earned €3.18 million during his two years and two months at the helm.  But his ownership of Bank of Ireland shares only increased from 87,595 to 89,756 and these had a value of €1.22 million when his dreams of good times in Las Vegas were at their most intense.  This would have been equivalent to 78% of Soden’s salary in 2003-04

Brian J Goggin

Goggin had worked at the Bank since 1969 and had high hopes of succeeding Keane only to have his eye wiped by Soden.  He succeeded Soden as group chief executive on 3 June 2004 and held that position until February 2009.  He earned a total of €14.5 million in remuneration as chief executive.  Goggin owned 334,126 Bank of Ireland shares when he got the top job and these were worth €3.5 million in June 2004.  His shareholding increased to 600,260 on 31 March 2008, the last date his shareholding was reported in the annual report, and would have had a value of €5.65 million then but would have been worth €312,135 by March 2009. This shareholding in 2008 would have exceeded Goggin’s highest level of total annual remuneration of €3.998 million - in 2006-07.

Richie Boucher

Boucher only owned 1,906 shares when he was first appointed to the Court of Directors in 2006.  He owned 33,127 ordinary shares on 31 March 2009 after he was appointed group chief executive.  Boucher’s shares are currently worth approximately €66,000.  The porters’ at some of the Bank’s branches probably own more shares.  But what can one presume other than his shareholding is a reflection of his confidence in the Bank?

The two other executive directors own significantly more shares.  Des Crowley owns 128,915 ordinary shares and John O’Donovan owns 108,326 ordinary shares. Boucher’s soon-to-depart counterpart at AIB owns 256,780 ordinary shares in AIB.

Boucher’s remuneration from the time he became a member of the Court until he became chief executive was €3.5 million.

Ireland’s contrasting economic spectrum

The Bank of Ireland has published its annual report for the year ended 31 March 2009.  This shows that while the Bank lost €7 million and has impaired loans of over €1.51 billion, that directors’ emoluments exceeded €8.68 million, split between 7 executive directors and 10 non-executive directors. 

The report advises that these emoluments are calculated using a ‘suite of tools’.  Directors’ emoluments in 2008, when the Bank made a profit of €1.84 billion and had an impaired loan charge of a mere €232 million, were €10.73 million. The share price and market capitalisation of Bank of Ireland on 31 March 2008, was €9.42 and €942 million and it had a 12.6% ISEQ weighting.   Brian Goggin was CEO since 2005

The share price and market capitalisation of Bank of Ireland on 31 March 2009 was €0.50 and €502 million and it had a1.8% ISEQ weighting.  Richie Boucher was recently appointed CEO then and his tenure continues. His very own Retail Division is responsible for €708 million of the group impairment charge.  The total value of impaired loans has increased from €1,062 million to €5,322 million, of which €3,538 million is attributable to property and construction.

This outcome is the culmination of an orgy of lending by the Bank to the property development sector.  The head of the Retail Division, African-born Boucher, sought to emulate the sure-footed, inspired ‘golden touch’ and prowess of Anglo Irish Bank and its then Chairman, Sean FitzPatrick in the jungle of the property sector, a jungle that was based on young, working people buying modest homes in distant locations for up to 15 times their household income.

The people of Ireland, through the Government, invested €3.5 billion last February to shore up the Tier 1 capital at Bank of Ireland, a decision that was overwhelmingly approved by the dividend-deprived  stockholders last March.

YE 31 March	2008	2009
Staff costs	€1,235.000,000	€1,181,000,000
Staff numbers	16,026	15,968
Average pay	€77,062	€73,960

 

The current Governor, Richard Burrow, a man of impeccable sense, is to vacate this role and acknowledges that “accountability for these losses must be taken at the top”.  But since Bank of Ireland is not a one-man show, who else comprises “the top”? 

Burrows advises that Bank of Ireland is working to restore the trust of customers, stockholders and the public in general.  The votes are being counted today in the nation’s local, European and by-elections after which a new panel of politicians will have received a mandate from voters.  There is no comparable scope for society to confer a mandate on institutions and individuals’ in charge of them whose decisions have an enormous bearing the lives and wellbeing of thousands of citizens.  Perhaps there is scope for a doctoral thesis to analyse and explain this.

Taxpayers’ need look back no further than the consequences of the half-year results announcement at Anglo Irish Bank -  and an immediate requirement for €4.5 billion for an illustration of this.  It will be interesting to observe the progress of the ‘trust restoration process’ in the country’s ‘systemically important banks’ and what ‘suite of tools’ and ‘suite of clichés’ will be deployed by these people with the strange sounding accents and ‘scared rabbit staring vacantly at the headlights’ demeanour.

The consequences of the lousy management of the appalling management and this bank and all of the other covered institutions (that is, Irish banks eligible for a State bail out because the Government deems them to be of systemic importance) has resulted in record numbers entering the Live Register.

 

	Live Register	Seasonally Adjusted	< 25 years old
May 2008	201,756	207,000	42,730 (21%)
May 2009	396,871	402,100	84,488 (21%)
YOY Increase	+195,115 (96%)	+195,100	41,758

 

The loss of 58 jobs in the Bank cannot blamed for the record increase in the numbers on the Live Register.  This is not a measure of unemployment because it includes individuals working a 3-day week and casual and part-timer workers who are eligible for welfare benefits.

Burrows to depart Bank of Ireland, but what about Boucher?

The Governor of Bank of Ireland, Richard Burrows, has announced his intention to call it a day after the Bank returned a loss of €7 million in the year ended 31 March 2009. He states that accountability for the losses reported in the Preliminary Statement for the year ended 31 March 2009 “accountability for these losses must be taken at the top” and that he will resign from his generously remunerated (€512,000) sinecure following the AGM in July. Dividends have been abandoned and the share price has collapsed and currently trades at €1.55.

Burrows was appointed a non-executive director of Carlsberg A/S, the world’s 4th largest brewery, some weeks ago. Carlsberg returned revenues of €8.05 billion and profit of €430.6 million in 2008. The Carlsberg board of directors split a mere €805,867 in fixed remuneration in both 2007 and 2008 – mere chicken feed when compared to the €1.26 million splashed among the non-executive members of the board of the Bank of Ireland in the year ended 31 March 2008. But Burrow has turned 66 years of age and his free bus pass will enable him to travel, at least as far as Dublin Airport, in a cost effective manner when he is required in the City of the Mermaid. However, he will need spare change if he has to buy a plastic bag at Dublin Airport to transit any liquids and lotions.

But if Burrows walks out of the Bank of Ireland with such elevated standards about accountability does that set a precedent and what will become of the tenure of his recent choice for the position of chief executive at Bank of Ireland, Richie Boucher?

Boucher was recruited to the Bank in 2003 and was the adult-in-charge of the Retail Division. A substantial element of appalling results announced this week is attributable to the Retail Division. The 2009 Retail Division profit of €20 million, is 6% of the much reduced reported group profit of €332 million. An impairment charge of €708 million, 78% of which is attributable to property and construction, arises in the Retail Division.

Boucher also personal advocated with the planning authorities for an enormous commercial and residential development proposed in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge. Permission was declined by An Bórd Pleanála, but had the project proceeded, it would have transformed the skyline of Dublin to be somewhat like that of Dubai, overshadowing a dense urban environment.

A compelling lesson from the era of the Irish Celtic Tiger is that it is not possible to sustain a housing sector based on 100% mortgages and residence purchase costs equivalent to 15 times household income, if there is any income. The price for which this site was acquired was equivalent to €50 million per acre, thanks to an abundance of bank funding.

Laurence Crowley, who preceded Burrows as Governor of Bank of Ireland, stated some months after Boucher’s recruitment that “our management are chosen for their ability to deliver outstanding business performance and to inculcate a performance culture in the organization”

That sentiment behind this remark is not evident in 2008/09 performance of Bank of Ireland, nor was it evident when an employee could walk out of the College Green branch last February with €7 million in the boot of his car, as a consequence of a tiger kidnapping, without either human or electronic interception at any stage before the person who took the money reported the matter to the gardaí.

It will be interesting to observe unfolding developments in relation to Bank of Ireland and the restoration of trust with shareholders and the general public.

Everybody Is Not Happy With Bank of Ireland Group CEO appointment!

Bank of Ireland chose to appoint an insider, Richie Boucher, to the top job following the resignation of Brian Goggin, who was group chief executive since June 2004. Boucher was Head of Retail Financial Services Ireland at the Bank. This division includes consumer banking, business banking and wealth management. It accounted for €33 billion in revenue (38% of total) for the year ended 31st March 2008 and covers 276 branches and 1.3 million customer accounts.

Bank of Ireland ordinary shares currently trade at €0.24 reflecting a market capitalisation of €239 million. Two years ago they traded at €17 underpinning a market capitalisation of €17.38 billion.

Brian Lenihan TD, Minister for Finance, announced on behalf of the Irish Government on 11th February its intention to provide €3.5 billion in Tier 1 core capital to Bank of Ireland just two weeks prior to the announcement of the Boucher appointment. As this money is coming from the National Pension Reserve Fund there is naturally a heightened awareness and real concern among the Irish public about the capacity and competency of those in charge of the country’s banks’ against a background of very questionbable, if not illegal, shenanigans by Irish Life & Permanent Plc and Anglo Irish Bank and declared ignorance by the boards of these banks about these matters. The Bank of Ireland promptly announced, directly after the Government decision, that it would report a loss for the second half of this fiscal year and increased its three-year expectation for loan impairment charges to around €4.5 billion from €3.8 billion

When Governor, Richard Burrows, announced the appointment of Boucher on 25th February, he described his banking experience as ‘broad range’ and his ‘outstanding leadership’ as the credentials that inspired confidence. One might have anticipated, at this time of great uncertainty and threatening widespread hardship in Ireland, such a bland endorsement from a doddering actor in an episode of Yes Minister, but not from the governor of an institution that is so central to the welfare of so many and which is about to consume very substantial dollops of State support.

The prospect of new thinking, new credentials, new outcomes and enhanced credibility was ignored, leaving shareholders, customers and the public sniffing for clues, like canaries in a coal mine. Mr Dermot Desmond, whose current shareholding is worth in the region of €1.85 million down almost €6 million on his original Bank of Ireland investment, expressed ‘dismay’ at the Boucher appointment on the grounds that Boucher’s involvement and exposure to excessive property lending, some of which were based on overstated land values and inadequate, or rapidly diminishing, collateral.

Two days following your announcement, on Friday 27th February, the €7 million robbery took place at College Green branch perpetrated by an employee, under duress, without, apparently, the interception of any human being or electronic surveillance device. This was the largest ever robbery of a bank branch in Ireland. Despite being under duress it is baffling to comprehend why the person who perpetrated the robbery chose to take €7 million, a very bulky consignment to put into an average car. Why not more, why not less cash given that there was apparently €300 million on the premises as it is a district cash distribution centre for branches in the Dublin vicinity? It has also been subsequently disclosed in the media that Bank of Ireland may not recover any insurance money arising from this because standard procedures were not followed. Coincidentally a cashier employed at the College Green branch was convicted of using an illegal magnetic skimmer that resulted in 87 branch customer having €320,000 stolen from their accounts. This took place between October 2006 and February 2007. The accomplice in this instance was an Eastern European.

What does this tell taxpayers about the leadership credentials of the new chief executive, his capacity to choose dependable, trusted support staff that ensure vital procedures work effectively in practice? Should they consider this incident an apt validation of his coronation and of the judgement of those who selected him?

Mr Boucher has also been directly involved in generating exuberance and practices in the financial services industry that is now compromising the economic stability of this country and its international reputation. The proposed Dunne development at Ballsbridge, for example, was partly funded by Bank of Ireland. The scale of funding provided was enormous and enabled a site to be sold for a price in excess of €50 million per acre. It is yet another example of a bank ignoring the warnings from the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority since August 2007. If the funding was not so abundant the price would have had to be lower and the purchasers' of the development might have obtained better value had the development been approved and proceeded. But when there is a culture of 'more', 'more' and 'more', these are not considerations that matter.

The only basis for the viability of this ‘investment’ lay in the prospect of enormous property appreciation and the risk of converting Ballsbridge into a Calcutta-like slum. Mr. Boucher also personally advocated with the planning authorities on behalf of this development thus demonstrating an indifference as to whether the skyline of Dublin emulated that of Dubai and not a great deal of personal civic spirit or social intelligence. He was a fervent slave to what urgently need to become 'the old ways'.

The spiralling increase of the bad-debt provision at Bank of Ireland also indicates a rampant record of funding borrowers who should not have borrowed and whose incomes were clearly quite insufficient to repay capital and interest, whatever the course of property and general economic trends. The Bank of Ireland, in common with other Irish banks, is at the first stage of this chain and, tragically, mafia-like figures and other gangsters are at the other end acting as ‘debt collectors’. Are these factors that warrant widespread support, acclaim and public confidence?

How will Mr. Boucher rehabilitate confidence in Bank of Ireland shares and the expectations of those dependent on dividends? Some traders in large London firms, astounded by the venality and incompetence that was generally tolerated in Ireland, have closed all positions on Irish shares because these cannot be analysed on their computer models due to the opacity of the underlying balance sheets.

This is certainly one opportunity missed to define a new future and a more promising for Bank of Ireland and another example of the narrow golden circle described in True Economics by Constantin Gurdgiev?