Life a little rosier at AIB’s big day out

Bank’s Ballsbridge AGM a much more sedate affair this time round

It was probably a sign of the changed mood in Ireland these days that the battalion of pensioners marching through Ballsbridge yesterday morning was en route to the World Flower Show in the RDS rather than the AIB annual general meeting across the road in Bankcentre.

The bank’s agm is usually a staple in the diaries of the blue rinse brigade but there’s only so long you can mourn your losses. At this stage, only the diehards will sit for more than three hours listening to the same old guff about past failings, tardy customer service and sloppy minute taking.

There were some entertaining moments for the sparse crowd. Peter Gallagher generated some laughs when he said he'd been given two corporate biros and a "very nice umbrella" and a letter from the chairman David Hodgkinson. But his branch manager still won't meet him.

Not to worry, Gallagher is so confident about the prospects for the bank he intends to take his holding from just under 200,000 shares to 500,000 in the future. Brave fellow given that AIB plans to rationalise its bloated capital structure and reduce the number of ordinary shares from the current 523 billion.

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Leaning on her wheeled shopping bag, pensioner Mary Clarke, stood up in the front row and decried the fact that elderly people, with their fading eyesight and computer illiteracy, don't seem to be welcome in branches anymore.

“I would like an improvement in branches,” she said, while also complimenting Pauline and Róisín from the Wicklow branch of AIB for their assistance to her.

Hodgkinson, a British banker who came to AIB initially for nine months and has stayed for nearly four years, smiled and nodded politely.

Challenging

Niall Murphy made his annual appearance, questioning the legalities of how the business is conducted and challenging the appointment of Michael Somers and Dick Spring, both of whom are on the AIB board at the Government's pleasure.

Hodgkinson did win praise from one quarter. Investment adviser Brendan Burgess lauded the bank for its decision not to charge interest on the warehoused portion of the split mortgages offered to certain mortgage arrears customers, and its scheme run with the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation to help those who are behind with their payments.

Hodgkinson boldly stated that taxpayers would get all of their €20.8 billion in bailout cash back as its profits build and the business grows in the years ahead. That would be great news for taxpayers, if not shareholders.

He called a halt to proceedings after three hours and 23 minutes, by which time most of the crowd had either retired to the ante room for refreshments or had gone to smell the roses across the road.