Now Fingleton should bow out
Related Articles
Irish Nationwide chief executive Michael Fingleton has demurred. He has agreed to return the €1m bonus he was paid by the building society last year. But he does so with bad grace.
In a statement, Mr Fingleton insisted that he is legally entitled to the payment because of "a contractual and binding agreement" which pre-dated the State guarantee on bank deposits.
Nevertheless, he would voluntarily give the money back because all the media attention was upsetting his family and because he is concerned about the effect on the society.
Nationwide was set up to help people buy homes for themselves. In recent years it became a major lender to property developers and investors. Consequently, the society is expected to reveal losses close to €500m on its loan book for 2008, a 10-fold increase on the previous year.
Although the society is supposedly owned by its members, Mr Fingleton has always exercised absolute control. Under his tenure, the society facilitated the concealment of Anglo Irish Bank's massive loans to its then chairman, Sean FitzPatrick.
In the matter of his €1m bonus, Mr Fingleton has taken the hint. However, he chose to ignore another hint when the Irish Nationwide chairman, Michael Walsh, resigned recently and called for change.
Mr Fingleton is giving back his bonus for the sake of peace and quiet. Still, he has his €27.6m pension to fall back on when, and if, he decides to do the next decent thing and step down. Either with or without good grace.
