AIB chairman Mr Lochlann Quinn today dismissed suggestions of a possible merger between it and Bank of Ireland.
Speaking at the bank’s AGM in Belfast today Mr Quinn also apologised to shareholders for the Allfirst debacle.
Commenting on media speculation of a merger between Ireland’s two largest banks, Mr Quinn said AIB’s aim is to grow its business as an independent, multinational financial services company.
"We are interested in competing with Bank of Ireland not in merging with them," Mr Quinn said. "We believe any such merger would be unacceptable on competition grounds and has not been and is not now on the agenda." He added.
Commenting on the Allfirst scandal, Mr Quinn said: "Like everyone else in this room I was shocked when I first heard about the scale of the loss."
He said the alleged fraud involved falsification of key bank records and documents and the circumventing of controls. "Rusnak managed to do this because of the 'weak control environment' at Allfirst treasury," Mr Quinn said.
Mr Quinn assured shareholders AIB’s board has taken steps to ensure that such an event can never happen again including accepting the recommendations of the Ludwig report.
Mr Quinn pointed out that since the trading losses at Allfirst were uncovered the share price has recovered well as the markets appreciate the underlying strength of AIB’s business. It is now 9 per cent (at €15.00) above the level before the fraud was announced, Mr Quinn said.
Mr Quinn said that in the last five years AIB has outperformed the top nine companies on the Irish Stock Exchange by 8 per cent, the average of the banks in the Eurotop 300 index by 26 per cent and Irish Government gilts by 223 per cent.
"That is the sort of performance that earns independence." Mr Quinn concluded.