The Margin was amused to see Anglo Irish Bank chief executive, Sean Fitzpatrick, make a vague attempt to lay the blame for the collapse of the bank's merger talks with First Active earlier this year on leaks to the media and stock markets. Addressing the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland conference, Mr Fitzpatrick went to great lengths to explain the culture of openness, integrity and honesty within the bank when sharing information with its staff about proposed new business ventures. Mr Fitzpatrick admits there was a "very full awareness" throughout the bank of what it was attempting to do with First Active, while at the same time telling the media that rumours of the talks were totally unfounded.

"I am a great believer in openness and frankness in transmitting information down through the channels of our organisation." Let's hope this policy will be extended to dealing with the media in the future.