Top four bank inquiry investigators to be paid €566,119

The top four investigators working on the banking inquiry will be paid €566,119 over 12 months .

Peter Rossiter, a chartered accountant who was a banker in Citibank until 2009 has been appointed as senior investigator on an interim basis until mid-January 2015. The position, when filled,will attract an annual salary of €172,710.

Mr Rossiter returned to Ireland as chief risk officer with Anglo Irish Bank in November 2009 before joining AIB in May 2012 where he has worked on trying to restructure the bank and prepare it for reprivatisation. The veteran banker will initially work with the committee on its scoping and planning phase until mid-January 2015.

The inquiry has also appointed two lead investigators on an annual salary of €131,373 each. Helen Bunbury has been appointed as lead investigator on the Central Banking and Financial Regulation stream of the inquiry. She has worked for 20-years in the financial services and legal industries and was most recently group chief operating officer with law firm and trust administration business Ogier. She previously worked at a senior level with RSA, the insurance group, for 16 years.

Pat McLoughlin, the former chief executive of the Irish Payment Services Organisation, has been appointed as lead investigator for the Irish Public Sector Governance stream of the inquiry.

A lead investigator of the commercial banking part of the inquiry has yet to be named. The inquiry also plans to appoint eight investigator team members who will be paid between €97,194 and €125,761 depending on their experience and skills. In addition three members of the Revenue Commissioners will also be seconded to the inquiry.

In a statement the inquiry said: “The investigation team is being put in place to provide specialist professional and technical expertise to conduct the nexus phase of the Inquiry; to support, assist and advise the Committee in the public hearing phase of the Inquiry; and draft reports on the basis of the written and oral evidence.”

"In ways, it is similar to the Comptroller and Auditor General's service to the Public Accounts Committee, " it added.

"The size of the team and the costs were benchmarked against the Nyberg Commission [which previously produced a state report on Ireland's banking collapse]," it added.

"The salary of the senior investigator was benchmarked against the sole member of the Nyberg Commission of Investigation (Peter Nyberg) who was paid at High Court Judge rate (€172,710); lead investigators have been benchmarked at Circuit Court Judge rate (€131,373); and investigator at senior public service management pay scales (€97,194- €125,761)."