AIB Chairman's Opening Address at AGM
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
For Immediate Release 26th July 2011
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.
Annual General Meeting
EXECUTIVE Chairman Mr. DAVID HODGKINSON's Speech
("AIB") (NYSE: AIB) Chairman's speech to AIB Annual General Meeting in AIB
Group, Bankcentre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland
Check against delivery
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome now to our Annual General
Meeting.
My name is David Hodgkinson, and I am the Executive Chairman of AIB.
We have a quorum, so I now formally open the Meeting.
The Notice of the Meeting was posted to Shareholders on the 2nd of July 2011,
and so I will dispense with its formal reading.
I'm joined on the platform on my far right by Paul Stanley, our Acting Chief
Financial Officer, to my immediate right by Bernard Byrne, Director of Personal
& Business Banking, to my immediate left by David O'Callaghan, our Company
Secretary, and on my far left by Bryan Sheridan, our Group Law Agent.
The other Directors are present in the room, with the exception of Mr. Collier,
who sends his apologies.
The first formal part of our proceedings is the Auditor's Report to the Members.
This is set out on pages 355 and 356 of our 2010 Annual Financial Report,
which was sent to shareholders who requested it. Copies of the full Report were
also available on the way into this afternoon's meeting.
As you are aware, the Auditor's Report has been increasing in length in recent
years. While Ms. Niamh Marshall of our Auditor, KPMG, is present here this
afternoon, I propose that, with the consent of the Meeting, we take the
Auditor's Report as read.
Thank you.
I am conscious that there are shareholders attending this meeting who were not
present at our EGM this morning so, with the indulgence of those who were in
attendance this morning, I wish to repeat a number of my earlier comments.
In my capacity as your Chairman, I want to repeat very clearly that my
colleagues on the AIB Board, and I, wish to express our deep regret to all our
shareholders for the events which have led us to the position we are in today,
and for the need for the further State support upon which we deliberated this
morning.
We remain acutely conscious of the enormous erosion in shareholder value which
has occurred and the real hardship for many shareholders brought about as a
result.
It has to be said yet again, so that we cannot forget, that serious mistakes
were made in this Bank which can't be allowed to happen again.
The Government has had to put an enormous amount of taxpayers' money into AIB in
order that we can help put things right both for our customers and the wider
economy.
So AIB exists today on the strength of the support of the Irish Government on
behalf of taxpayers.
I will again put on record our acknowledgement of, and gratitude for, that
support and for the key role that the Government and taxpayers continue to play
in helping us deal with the unprecedented events which this Company faces.
In return, the Government rightly expects rigorous governance, protection of its
investment and appropriate behaviour by the Company's board and management.
Also too, that the bank should play as big a part as it can in the recovery of
the economy.
I can tell you that my Board colleagues, Senior Management and I, all subscribe
to the Government's expectations and, so, the Bank is going through an extensive
restructuring programme that incorporates organisational size, staff, business
focus, culture and governance, all of which is designed to prevent a repeat of
the disastrous and far reaching crisis.
However, I am also realistic about the scale of the challenge and it will take
time to get us to where we need to be, but I am confident that our efforts will
ultimately be successful.
Since I met with you here in November last year, there have been many
developments which have significantly altered the fabric of AIB.
The level of change is apparent in that there is no member of the executive
committee, the bank's top executive team, that was in office before 2010. At
Board level, following this AGM, there will not be any Board members remaining
that were in place prior to 2009.
Top management appointments have now been made following a very rigorous
selection process which has closely examined people's leadership values and
behaviours.
We have a good mix of people from inside and outside AIB with many internal AIB
people taking on new or changed responsibilities.
We have moved to change the structure of the organisation to put customers at
the heart of what we do. The customer facing businesses are being supported
centrally by specialist functions and services.
Following these changes, AIB will have a strong foundation from which a
profitable business can be rebuilt and will be well positioned in the market as
one of the two pillar domestic Irish banks.
And our intention is to achieve these changes without losing sight of our key
objectives of supporting our customers through this challenging period and
helping to revitalise the national economy.
To achieve our objectives, we require capital.
We are now nearing the end of a long sequence of capital raising actions that
have included business acquisitions and disposals, and the repurchase of
virtually all of our subordinated debt at a significant discount.
Earlier today, we sought shareholder approval for the final act in the
recapitalisation of AIB and EBS.
Should the resolutions be approved today, and arising from the issue of the new
shares, the Government will own 99.8% of the total issued Ordinary Shares.
By strengthening the Group's capital position, the Directors believe that the
Proposals should facilitate the Group's objective of providing for a sustainable
future as a systemically important bank, which will continue to support our
customers and contribute to economic recovery.
We now come to the formal part of the meeting, where we consider and vote upon
the resolutions, and hear questions and comments from the floor.
My intention is to allow as many people as possible to speak and to try and
respond to your questions and comments as clearly as I possibly can...
- ENDS-
For further information please contact:
Alan Kelly Ronan Sheridan
Director of Corporate Affairs & Marketing Group Press Officer
AIB Group AIB Group
Dublin Dublin
Tel: +353-1-6412162 Tel: +353-1-6414651
email: alan.j.kelly(at)aib.ie email: ronan.j.sheridan(at)aib.ie
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1533514]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 26.07.2011 - 14:33 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 56715
Anzahl Zeichen: 8444
contact information:
Town:
Dublin 4
Kategorie:
Business News
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 142 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"AIB Chairman's Opening Address at AGM"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
