O'Connor tipped as executive AIB chair
Monday November 09 2009
HOPES are growing that AIB chairman Dan O'Connor will agree to take on the role of executive chairman at the bank to end the stalemate with Finance Minister Brian Lenihan over who should lead the bank.
Mr Lenihan is understood to be agreeable to the idea of an executive chairman but no designated chief executive, at least for a time.
He had been seeking the appointment of an outside candidate to take over from current chief executive Eugene Sheehy.
However, directors of AIB are believed to prefer Colm Doherty, managing director of AIB Capital Markets, for the job.
With Bank of Ireland having already appointed an "insider", Mr Lenihan is thought to be anxious not to have two such appointments -- especially at AIB, which many expect to come under majority state ownership when it is re-capitalised.
Sources say that, contrary to some reports, Mr O'Connor has not yet agreed to the plan and there is no certainty that he will do so. However, the board is unlikely to oppose it if Mr O'Connor accepts.
Such a scheme is likely to be temporary, since it breaches what is seen as best practice in corporate governance.
Last week, Gerry Keenan, the new chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers, which represents institutional shareholders, told the Irish Independent that the institutions wanted to see three-quarters of the bank boards made up of totally new faces within the next two years.
- Brendan Keenan
Irish Independent
