AIB’S DECISION to choose Spanish bank Santander over local bidder Bank Pekao in the sale of its Polish subsidiary Bank Zachodni hasn’t gone down well locally. The Poles had hoped to keep in the family, so to speak.

And reports in the Polish press yesterday could cause AIB some discomfort as it awaits regulatory clearance for the deal.

Local papers have claimed that AIB may have breached data protection rules by leaving behind information relating to mortgage holders and their loans in a data room that was set up for bidders.

A spokeswoman for AIB said the sales process was conducted in “an entirely appropriate manner” and no investigation is in train.

AIB boss Colm Doherty will no doubt be keen to nail this story and bank his profit from the deal as he seeks to meet the Financial Regulator’s year-end deadline for raising €7.4 billion in new capital.

Accounts just filed for public relations company Hill Knowlton show it made a loss of €249,743 in 2009.

This compared with a profit of €66,067 in the previous year.

The agency lost two big clients during the year – airline Etihad and online retailer eBay – while others scaled back their communications activities as the recession hit.

Turnover last year almost halved to €380,017 at the PR group.

Agency boss Kieran O’Byrnes told me that 2010 has been another “tough year” and the agency will record a loss for the period.

But business has perked up.

“We’re ahead of forecast and we won’t be far off it [making a profit],” he said. “It’s more positive this year.”