Former AIB finance director among three non-executive directors for Anglo board

STATE-OWNED Anglo Irish Bank has appointed three non-executive directors, including a former finance director of Allied Irish Banks (AIB), to the bank’s board.

Gary Kennedy, former AIB director of finance; Noel Cawley, the chairman of Teagasc and a director of Bord Bia and investment firm One51; and solicitor Aidan Eames were appointed to the board of the nationalised bank.

The three businessmen join Anglo’s chairman-designate Alan Dukes, outgoing chairman Donal O’Connor, chief executive Mike Aynsley and former Bank of Ireland chief executive Maurice Keane on the board of Anglo.

Mr Kennedy left AIB at the end of 2005 after receiving payments totalling €3.6 million from the bank, including €2.1 million in pension contributions and €579,000 in compensation for loss of office.

He departed soon after Eugene Sheehy succeeded Michael Buckley as AIB chief executive.

Mr Kennedy is a director of drug firm Elan, food group Greencore, Friends First General Insurance Company and Travelport, where former AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson is chairman.

Mr Cawley was chief executive of the Irish Dairy Board and chairman of the Irish Horse Board. Mr Eames is a commercial lawyer. He is a director of An Bord Gáis and has served as chairman and board member of a number of private and States companies.

He acts as an adviser to commercial and technology firms, Anglo says.

Mr Dukes said he was confident that the three new non-executives would make “a significant contribution as we continue our efforts to stabilise and de-risk the bank”.

Anglo has also appointed Australian banker Mark Layther to manage a “work-out unit” supervising bad loans that are not transferring to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Mr Layther, a former chief executive of private equity property company Colony Capital in Taiwan, will join the bank in July as head of the bank’s “group recovery management unit”.

He previously worked at OCBC Bank in Singapore managing bad loans, up to 90 per cent of which involved property-related assets.

Anglo has taken provisions of €3.7 billion against €36.5 billion in loans that will remain with the bank after property loans of €35.6 billion are transferred into Nama.