IRISH LIFE & Permanent (IL&P) chairwoman Gillian Bowler resisted demands from angry shareholders that she resign and forgo her remuneration for this year following the 88 per cent collapse of the company’s share price.

Ms Bowler told shareholders at the annual meeting in Dublin that the position of chairwoman was a salaried position and that the company would send a signal to the market if the position was not paid that IL&P “had no money left”.

“The job of chairman automatically carries a salary. What I do with that money is between me and my conscience,” she said. She would deal with her pay “correctly and honourably”, she said.

Ms Bowler, who was paid €288,000 last year, and the nine other directors of the IL&P board were overwhelmingly re-elected.

She apologised to shareholders for IL&P’s €7.5 billion short-term deposits into Anglo Irish Bank last September which had the effect of flattering Anglo’s balance sheet on the day its financial year ended.

Ms Bowler said she was “shocked” when she learned of the deposits “the night before the story hit the papers” in February.

She described the transactions as “misguided” and “a serious breach” of the high standards to which the company aspired.

She said the fact that they could have occurred without reference to the board was “the biggest shock and disappointment”. The deposits were now part of a Garda investigation, she confirmed.

“I have to be careful what I say because we have lawyers in the audience representing people here so I don’t want to pre-judge the outcome of the investigation that is still ongoing,” she said.

Asked later when the investigations would conclude, she said: “The sooner the better.”

The Anglo transactions were “exceptional” due to their size and brevity, she said. Ms Bowler said they were also exceptional because they were “being facilitated at a senior executive level and that the executives didn’t disclose them to the board”.

She described the deposits as “a zero transaction” with no risk or gain for the company. She said the inquiries would show the €7.5 billion originally came from Anglo.

IL&P’s chief executive Denis Casey, finance director Peter Fitzpatrick and head of treasury David Gantly resigned over the deposits.

Ms Bowler said IL&P decided to accept their resignations rather than to seek their dismissals.

“Our legal advice was if you moved to sack anybody we would have been facing court injunctions within hours which would have been successful,” she said.

She later declined to say if she had insisted that they resign.

This would have led to the executives remaining in place for two years, while the inquiries into the deposits were ongoing, she said.

“We had to deal with that situation quickly. We had to put an end to the mess – it was a huge mess.”

Ms Bowler offered to resign last February but the board turned her down. She told shareholders that she doesn’t quit but was “a fighter” and wanted to fix matters.

Following an external review over the deposits scandal, IL&P will appoint a new head of risk and is strengthening its risk controls.

Ms Bowler also said that she expected the company to appoint a new chief executive next month.

Asked if an outsider would be appointed, she said IL&P had a shortlist and had “an open mind” on that and on whether the post would be filled by a banker or insurance executive.

One shareholder, an ex-banker, criticised IL&P’s lending practices, saying it had been “pulled in by profits before people” and pushed staff too hard to meet high targets. “After years in business I would have to say that people before profit actually leads to profit,” Ms Bowler replied.

She said the future of banking would be “much more prudent”.