Michael Fingleton feels ‘wronged’ by coverage of his time at INBS

Former Irish Nationwide chief executive Michael Fingleton has said he “most certainly” feels wronged by the media coverage of his time with the building society.

Speaking before the Oireachtas banking inquiry, Mr Fingleton said he did not regret any of the decisions he took during his time at INBS. He said he has and continues to pay the price personally for the economic crash.

“I don’t regret any (of the) decisions I took,” he said. He said he did regret that the society had a commercial loan book that was “too large” and resulted in “significant losses” when the financial sector crashed.

“I regret it now. At the time it was a normal commercial decision I took.”

Mr Fingleton said he regretted that the State and taxpayer had to pay the price for the collapse of the banking system but that no bank could have stopped the property bubble.

He stepped down from INBS in early 2009 and year later the institution faced the first of two recapitalisations by the State, involving a total bailout of €5.4 billion.

Asked if he had felt wronged about how his time at the bank, some 38 years, was now viewed, Mr Fingleton replied: “I most certainly do.”

“I have been misrepresented seriously. Eighty per cent of what is written about me by certain individuals is wrong.”

Pensions and bonuses

Mr Fingleton said he set up a pension fund for himself and invested €3-4 million into it. He self-managed the fund and it grew to €30 million, the inquiry heard. He declined to tell Fianna Fail TD Michael McGrath the amount of his annual pension.

Mr Fingleton insisted there was no bonus culture at INBS but admitted performance related pay was issued. Questions about the return of a € 1 million bonus and a watch he received when leaving the bank in 2009 were ruled out of order by the committee’s legal team.

Mr Fingleton said he did not determine his own bonuses and they were agreed by the board of Irish Nationwide. He said a perception has been created that he was in control of the entire operation of the society but he had taken steps to ensure this was not the case.

“The board always had their say. The board approved all loans over €1 million, not Michael Fingleton...In hindsight we would have all done things differently in life and in business.

“I would have not lent in 2006 and 2007. If we had of stopped lending in 2006 instead of 2007 we would eliminated totally our commercial book.”

INBS solvent

Mr Fingleton insisted the bank was solvent at the time of the bank guarantee in September 2008. He said there was no evidence to contradict that position.

“There was no member of the board or of the executive management of the society involved in any discussions leading up to the guarantee on the night of 26th September 2008,” he said.

“There was no basis or evidence provided by the pillar banks in relation to the quality of the INBS loan book. AIB had no knowledge of our book whatsoever; equally [Bank of Ireland] did not do any due diligence on the society’s loan book arising from their previous interest in purchasing the society.”

Mr Fingleton said he was surprised at the interest in INBS by Bank of Ireland. He said Brian Goggin, Bank of Ireland’s former chief executive, told him Bank of Ireland was “light in their commercial book as they were late into the market”.

He said he understood from the evidence given to the inquiry to date that AIB wanted INBS to be nationalised together with Anglo.

“There was no justification on the night for INBS to be nationalised as it had demonstrably adequate liquidity together with the benefit of the increase of the 12 deposit protection scheme limit to €100,000 made on 20th September , which effectively covered 95 per cent of the society’s deposits,” he said.

‘Collateral damage’

Mr Fingleton said he regretted that staff and shareholders of Irish Nationwide had become casualties in the bank’s collapse.

He said the crash was an event of magnitude that was unforseen by observers.

The “collateral damage was immense for everyone concerned” but no commentator foresaw how bad it would be, he said.

Inquiry chairman Ciarán Lynch said Mr Fingleton appeared to excuse himself from many of the credit decisions made at Irish Nationwide. He said the former chief executive disputed the findings of several independent reports.

In response, Mr Fingleton said: “You implied that I haven’t answered the questions to the best of my ability. I have not excused myself from anything. I have answered the questions to the best of my knowledge and given my opinion. That is what I have done.”