AIB appoints chief risk officer

AIB has appointed a chief risk officer for the group - as recommended in the Ludwig Report in March - who will report directly…

AIB has appointed a chief risk officer for the group - as recommended in the Ludwig Report in March - who will report directly to AIB's group chief executive, Mr Michael Buckley.

Mr Shom Bhattacharya (51) joins AIB from JP Morgan Private Bank where he was managing director/global head of lending, risk management and control. Before joining JP Morgan Mr Bhattacharya worked for Chemical Bank.

Mr Bhattacharya will be responsible for risk management strategy development and implementation, groupwide. He will be a member of the AIB group executive committee, the committee responsible for setting corporate strategy and overseeing the management of the AIB group. He takes up the position on December 2nd, 2002.

In his report arising out of the John Rusnak scandal, where the US currency trader lost almost $700 million while working for Allfirst bank, Mr Eugene Ludwig recommended the strengthening of controls across the AIB group.

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In March the bank announced it would appoint "an individual of international standing" to review and advise the board on risk management across the group.

The bank also reaffirmed "the decision to combine finance and risk functions across the group under Mr Gary Kennedy, group director, finance, risk, enterprise networks and ebusiness".

In March it was the intention that the risk officer would report to Mr Kennedy but this has now been changed and Mr Bhattacharya will report to Mr Kennedy.

A spokeswoman said the change was due to Mr Bhattacharya's appointment to the group executive committee since everyone on that committee reports to Mr Buckley. She said Mr Kennedy's title would be changed to group director finance and enterprise technology.