AIB's Buckley apologises for €14 million 'cock-up'

The chief executive of Allied Irish Banks has apologised after the bank admitted overcharging foreign exchange customers by a…

The chief executive of Allied Irish Banks has apologised after the bank admitted overcharging foreign exchange customers by a total of €14 million.

"This is an administrative cock-up which should have been put right earlier and is being put right now," Mr Michael Buckley said  on the sidelines of an investor conference in London.

The bank admitted yesterday it had overcharged foreign exchange customers for the past eight years but said senior management had only found out about the error in the past few days.

Despite fears from Irish exporters that the €14 million  estimated overcharging could be revised sharply higher, Mr Buckley doubted whether this would be the case.

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"I'd be very surprised if there was any other similar situation but we are going to be very thorough in investigating this," he added.

Ireland's biggest bank by market value hit world headlines two years ago after a $700 million scandal at its US unit Allfirst. However, Mr  Buckley played down the impact of the latest incident on the bank.

"This is an embarrassing thing and we are going to fix it. It does not have any ramifications beyond what it is," he said.

The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority has ordered AIB to carry out an inquiry and to repay customers where possible.