CEO borrowed £1.3m in nine-year period

IRISH NATIONWIDE chief executive Michael Fingleton borrowed no money from the building society between 2002 and 2007, according to Irish Nationwide’s register of directors’ transactions held at the Financial Regulator.

Mr Fingleton borrowed a total of £1.3 million from the building society between 1992 and 2001. Most of the loans were drawn between 1997 and 1999.

The regulator’s public file on the building society shows that Mr Fingleton borrowed the largest sum, £757,750, from Irish Nationwide in 1999 on a seven-year term, at a fixed rate of 4.85 per cent for the first year.

He also borrowed a 15-year loan of £77,000 that year, drawn down in three instalments between June and November, on a variable interest rate of 5.95 per cent.

Mr Fingleton’s most recent loan, according to the public register of transactions with directors, was £50,000 borrowed in July 2001. He borrowed a total of £115,000 in 1997, drawn down in two instalments – £90,000 in April and £25,000 in May.

The following year, he borrowed a total of £200,000 in three loans. They comprised a 20-year loan of £100,000 in March, a 15- year loan of £60,000 drawn in three equal instalments from June to October, and a nine-year loan of £40,000 in November. The £100,000 loan was for 20 years with a 5.9 per cent fixed rate for the first year. The oldest loan on the register was a 15-year loan of £110,000 taken in December 1992.

The transactions were disclosed under the terms of the Building Societies Act 1989 and were signed off by the society’s auditors, KPMG, according to the register.

The most recent declaration of transactions with directors of the building society or connected persons was filed in March 2008.

The building society is expected to release its annual results for 2008 in the coming weeks.