Anglo turns into no name bank as signs dismantled

ANGLO IRISH Bank has removed the signage from the bank’s six offices across the country as the bank takes further steps to close and wind down over time.

The bank began removing the signs from its branches in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford at 2pm yesterday.

Mike Aynsley, the bank’s chief executive, was at Anglo’s former head office on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin as the two signs on either side of the entrance were removed by workers.

The bank will be renamed following the merger of Anglo with Irish Nationwide Building Society which will take place this summer.

Mr Aynsley declined to disclose the new name until the merger.

Anglo was “radically different” from the organisation he joined in 2009, he said, and “a root-and-branch overhaul” had been undertaken by the new management.

“The board and management team have overseen the bank’s transformation from a high-octane property lender to a dedicated asset-recovery bank working in the public interest,” he said.

Anglo was focused on “getting the maximum return for the Irish taxpayer” by recovering as much as it could on the remaining €35 billion of loans, or €24 billion net of provisions taken against losses. “Removing the old Anglo signage is a step towards reflecting this new reality,” said Mr Aynsley.

Consigning the “signage to history” should help create an understanding among the public that the old Anglo has gone, he said.

“Once and for all, it should give people an incredibly strong sense of finality in terms of the fate of this institution that has cost Ireland so dearly,” said Mr Aynsley.

He said the bank had removed about 20 signs yesterday and would be moving them to one location which he declined to disclose.

It would consider selling them at auction to make money back for the State or donate them to charity, a museum or a gallery for an art installation, he said.

He said that, based on the bank’s estimates, the State’s bailout of the bank should not exceed €29.3 billion unless there is a further sharp fall in the property market. “Based on our estimates and our stress-testing, there is enough money in the capital structure of the bank.”

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said he would be glad to see the end of Anglo but did not know the new name for the bank and claimed that the public wouldn’t care.

“They’ll want to ensure that its final transition to oblivion is cost-free as it possibly can be because, God knows, its life to date has been extremely costly for the Irish taxpayer, for the Irish economy and for the Irish people,” he said.

The number of Anglo offices in Ireland and overseas will reduce to nine by June from 19 in 2008. Staff numbers will have fallen from 1,864 in 2008 to 1,000 at the end of this year under the bank’s plans.