The Taoiseach has said that AIB’s 98,000 account holders and shareholders will not suffer any loss of funds despite news of a €860 million fraud.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil: "AIB will still be profitable, and I think that’s what customers want to know". He said the bank’s capital base and solvency remained strong, and said "there’s no danger to any AIB account holders of any loss of funds".
AIB shares on the Dublin market fell 14 per cent today after an initial fall of 20 per cent. In London, shares dropped 16 per cent.
But Mr Ahern said the figure announced today was merely the result of "preliminary investigations".
He added: "The individual involved has mysteriously gone missing, so obviously they [the FBI] are operating this investigation without the co-operation of the person involved, or maybe persons. In a fraud case, it is unlikely that all the facts would be known that quickly."
Mr Ahern said America's Federal Reserve would investigate the fraud and communicate its findings to the Irish Central Bank.
Fine Gael leader Mr Michael Noonan said it was important that every piece of information was made available as quickly as possible and said; "the public need assurances that this is the full extent of the problem, that it has been fully investigated and that everybody knows, with security, what the future holds."
Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise, Mr Charles Flanagan called on the Tánaiste to issue a full report on the impact of the fraud on Irish pension funds.
He said: "It appears extraordinary that lessons from the Barings collapse appear not to have been learned and management structures must be subjected to an early review".
Additional Reporting by PA