The top managers of AIB want it to be privatised by 2025. And the main reason is so they can get higher pay.
The CEOs at AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB claim that they were the lowest-paid CEOs in the ISEQ 20 index.
But they earned €600,000, €950,000 and €572,000 respectively.
They think that it is not enough. They believe themselves among an elite of talent and so must be paid way above the rest of us.
The reality is that Irish banks have been ripping us off. According to the Financial Times,
‘Irish banks have also benefited more than European peers from high-interest rates, which they were slower to pass on to customers, helping active stellar returns’
In less polite language, they gouged mortgage holders for huge re-payments in order to push up profits and, in the case of AIB, fatten up its assets in preparation for privatisation.
AIB posted a 2023 profit after tax of €2bn, while Bank of Ireland turned a profit of €1.94bn before tax. PTSB, the smallest of Ireland’s remaining three high street banks, posted a 270 percent increase in underlying profit, before a one-off gain and tax.
We need to keep AIB in public ownership and rid it of the corporate culture. It should operate as a not-for-profit bank and stop paying gigantic salaries to overpaid CEOs.
