Fingleton paid himself 1 million bonus AFTER bank guarantee...

[toxic avenger]

And the brass neck of the year award goes to...

THE CHIEF executive of Irish Nationwide Building Society, Michael Fingleton, was paid a bonus of €1 million just weeks after the Government introduced the €440 billion guarantee to protect the entire banking system.
However, it emerged last night that the Department of Finance intends to put pressure on Mr Fingleton to repay the bonus.
Mr Fingleton’s “pre-contracted incentive bonus” for 2008 was revealed in the report of the Government committee set up to assess executive pay in the seven banks and building societies covered by the guarantee, which was introduced on September 30th.
The report from the Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee (Ciroc) showed that Mr Fingleton was paid the bonus in November. The building society agreed to the bonus early last year and it was paid before the two Government-nominated directors were appointed in December.
The Ciroc report showed that Mr Fingleton’s annual salary increased at a time when the banking sector came under severe stress and the Government moved to protect the financial system with the guarantee.
Mr Fingleton’s overall pay package for 2008 totalled €2.34 million, which included benefits and fees of €453,240. This was higher than his 2007 pay of €2.31 million and made him the best-paid chief executive in Irish banking for 2008.

Fingleton was paid €1m bonus weeks after guarantee - The Irish Times - Sat, Mar 14, 2009

The bonus was coincidentally paid just prior to the date that two government representatives were to be appointed to the Board. Lenihan is said to be 'not impressed', and the government are saying they will pursue the matter further. All this despite Nationwide being the most exposed to commercial property of all lenders in Ireland, up to 80% of its property loans being badly affected by the crash. A situation designed solely by one Michael Fingleton.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If there aren't horror stories waiting to emerge from Fingleton's little empire, then I'll eat my own feet. It's just a matter of time...

 

[well_known_grouse]

Fingers wont get them burnt .. wait till you see ..

 

[toxic avenger]

The Ciroc report shows that Mr Fingleton was the only chief executive in receipt of a higher salary this year. His salary rose 12 per cent this year, to €1 million from €893,000.

Because he's worth it...

 

[EarlyBird]

 

[peadarmc]

And the brass neck of the year award goes to...

Jeez TA, that a bold statement to be making!

I mean have you fully considered all the competition??

 

[conservative green]

At this point Dr Michael Walsh was still on the board. Was Dr Walsh aware of this bonus and did he approve of it?

 

[toxic avenger]

Jeez TA, that a bold statement to be making!

I mean have you fully considered all the competition??

True, what was I thinking? Brass neck of the day so...

 

[Gruffalo]

If there is anyone still there who approved this they must be sacked and without any payoff. Its time to stop saying that these boys are not above the law and time to start proving it.

 

[peadarmc]

If there is anyone still there who approved this they must be sacked and without any payoff. Its time to stop saying that these boys are not above the law and time to start proving it.

unfortunately, here in Ireland we seem to have a culture of everyone saying

"jeez isnt that terrible"

but nobody doing anything about it!
(applies to many situations, this one included!)

 

[cyberianpan]

At this point Dr Michael Walsh was still on the board. Was Dr Walsh aware of this bonus and did he approve of it?

That's the sort of point which needs to be made over & over again : what on earth were the non-executive directors doing in the banks/bs ?

cYp

 

[toxic avenger]

If there is anyone still there who approved this they must be sacked and without any payoff. Its time to stop saying that these boys are not above the law and time to start proving it.

At Nationwide, Fingleton was God. His word was all that was needed. There really is only one place such decisions were made, just like all the loans to his family that were made secret by dint of Noel Dempsey changing the law (yes, THAT Noel Dempsey, he who called such actions 'worse than Cromwell' - see thread: http://www.politics.ie/current-affairs/51507-noel-dempsey-hypocrite.html). It all begins and ends with Fingleton himself.

Also remember, his son was over in London touting for business once the guarantee was received, using it as a selling point despite the pleas of the government that no bank do so for the anger it would cause among European governments at the time. Del Boy would be proud.

 

[toxic avenger]

Labour and Fine Gael believe that the proposed caps on banks' chief executives' pay is far too high. The Covered Institution Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) had apparently set it even higher before Lenihan cut it, says Lenihan. The level for Fingleton would be cut from his present salary of over a million to 360K. Fingleton’s overall pay for 2008 was €2.34 million, the most by far for any banking chief executive. I'd take the opportunity to oust him now, if I were them, before they're made to later...

Cap on banker salaries ?too high? at ?500k | Irish Examiner

 

[essexboy]

Fingleton is actually doing us all a favour with his exorbitant pay, although I personally would hang him from the nearest convenient lampost.

He is exposing the Government's hollow rhetoric for what it is. *****The Brians must have him removed now.

 

[wombat]

Irish Nationwide is a mystery to me. It is still a mutual society, supposedly run for the benefits of its members. Its purpose was to gather deposits and loan money to people who wanted to buy houses. We find now that it was being used to loan money to property developers & cronies and the man running it pays himself whatever he wants. It is now kept in business by govt. gaurantee but the govt. does not replace the man responsible for destroying the society.
What really annoys me is that I left my savings on deposit with this organisation, thinking they were in the business of providing loans for houses. It looks like I should have loaned the money to a cocaine dealer who would be just as honest.

 

[Digout]

A country run by crooks for crooks.

 

[jerryp]

Any financial institution whose assets are guaranteed by the state should not be paying it's most highly paid more than the salary of a government minister.

 

[toxic avenger]

Irish Nationwide is a mystery to me. It is still a mutual society, supposedly run for the benefits of its members. Its purpose was to gather deposits and loan money to people who wanted to buy houses. We find now that it was being used to loan money to property developers & cronies and the man running it pays himself whatever he wants. It is now kept in business by govt. gaurantee but the govt. does not replace the man responsible for destroying the society.
What really annoys me is that I left my savings on deposit with this organisation, thinking they were in the business of providing loans for houses. It looks like I should have loaned the money to a cocaine dealer who would be just as honest.

Fingleton made a deliberate decision to move away from residential mortgages and the like and into commercial property loans to a hand-selected group of 'the boys', thinking it was a much better filled trough to suck from. The Irish Nationwide thus stopped being a building society in any sense that, for example, people in Britain would recognise. It's British namesake, entirely unrelated, is a responsible and reasonably ethical operation, keeping to its founding principles, and is now one of, if not the, best placed financial institution in Britain to comfortably ride out the recession. The Irish Nationwide, in contrast, is ridiculously highly exposed, 80% of its comercial property loans being at risk from massive write-offs. That's what happens when you put someone like Fingleton in charge of anything...

 

[constitutionus]

what staggers me , beyond the obvious neck involved, is how the hell he justifies being the best paid banker in the country !!

nationwide is no where near as big as AIB and BOI yet HE gets more wonga?

something seriously wrong there alone. the guy clearly isnt living in the real world. im not entirely sure what the gov can do from a legal standpoint in reagards to the million euro bonus bar a concerted campaing to shame the fecker into giving it back.

the question is considering how theres still a "Them and us" attitude amongst these people (gov and bankers) will they actualy DO it or just put on a puppet show.

 

[wombat]

im not entirely sure what the gov can do from a legal standpoint in reagards to the million euro bonus bar a concerted campaing to shame the fecker into giving it back.
.

This company exists because the govt. gaurantees deposits - they can tell them what to do.

 

[toxic avenger]

what staggers me , beyond the obvious neck involved, is how the hell he justifies being the best paid banker in the country !!

nationwide is no where near as big as AIB and BOI yet HE gets more wonga?

something seriously wrong there alone. the guy clearly isnt living in the real world. im not entirely sure what the gov can do from a legal standpoint in reagards to the million euro bonus bar a concerted campaing to shame the fecker into giving it back.

the question is considering how theres still a "Them and us" attitude amongst these people (gov and bankers) will they actualy DO it or just put on a puppet show.

Correct, but even more intriguing a question is how many bodies does he know the burial locations of? Fingleton was banker and confidante for the real stars in our little corner of the firmament, so how much pushing are our government going to have to take before they act? Same with Anglo, your man is in Spain, but I'm guessing he was advised to get out by more powerful people than he...