Just before 12.30pm, Bank of Ireland’s Scottish chairman Alfie Kane brought the marathon three-hour annual meeting to a close. With that the large doors in the Burlington Hotel’s ballroom swung open and the dash towards the chicken wings and sandwiches began. With the bank’s stock trading at a anaemic 17 cent a share, the lunch fare is probably the best return that these long-suffering shareholders will receive from their investment.
Kane probably felt like having a stiff Scotch after the lengthy rant-fest that he was subject to given much of the anger from the floor.
'Part-time' role
Never one to pass up an opportunity to talk into a microphone, Independent TD Shane Ross wanted to know why Kane was going to earn €490,000 annually for his "part-time" role and questioned his credentials given his previous career with Lloyd's TSB.
Ross reminded the board that most of the shareholders in the room had seen their stock fall in value from €18, had been paid no dividends since the crash, and had “no hope of recovering their money”.
He said it was “impossible” for ordinary folk to understand why the board were being so well remunerated for their stewardship of a bank that made a loss of €1.83 billion in 2012.
Ross called on Kane to volunteer to cut his pay in half. “You’re getting more than the last Governor [Pat Molloy],” he said. Ross also wanted to know the background to the recent appointment of Pat Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Banking Federation, as head of the bank’s corporate communications.
Kane thanked Ross for his “very interesting” comments which he suggested weren’t entirely aligned with the facts.
He said Farrell had been chosen following an extensive search for “the best possible candidate” and suggested that he would bring a wealth of “knowledge, contacts and experience to the role”.
Fitness and probity
Kane said his own appointment had been made after clearing the Central Bank of Ireland's fitness and probity requirements, before turning to fellow director Joe Walsh, a former Fianna Fáil minister and a public interest director for the State.
Walsh said a "rigorous search" had been conducted to find a new chairman. He also noted how, of the €64.5 billion in State bailouts to Irish banks, "just €4.8 billion" of that had gone to Bank of Ireland, and it had already repaid €3.8 billion.
Towards the end, a bizarre verbal spat broke out between shareholders. One man, who had asked for the historic College Green branch in Dublin to be handed over to the State, wanted a right to reply after the chairman had rejected his request. He refused to yield to a fellow shareholder on the far side of the room who was in possession of the mike.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” the man with the mike said before threatening to go over and sort the other guy out. The College Green speaker offered to see him outside afterwards before Kane brokered a peace accord that eventually allowed both of them to have their say.
Late on, a Gaeilgeóir thanked the bank for allowing him to conduct his business on ATMs in Irish. This left Kane searching for a colleague to interpret before the shareholder apologised for not providing an English translation. “Not at all,” replied the chairman. “I’m a guest in your country.”
