AIB's chief executive, Mr Michael Buckley, has returned to the Republic after meeting the banker who is investigating a €750 million (£590.7 million) foreign exchange fraud at the bank's US subsidiary in Baltimore.
An AIB spokeswoman said Mr Buckley met the investigator, Mr Eugene Ludwig, last Friday. It was Mr Buckley's first face-to-face meeting with Mr Ludwig, who worked previously as comptroller of the US currency during the Clinton presidency. Besides saying that Mr Buckley was briefed on the investigation, she declined to comment on their discussion.
Mr Buckley also met senior staff at the Allfirst Financial subsidiary, she said. He was neither interviewed by nor met FBI investigators, who are also examining the fraud.
Mr Ludwig has been asked to complete his work by March 11th, but a US spokesman for Allfirst said the report may be delivered "before that". The FBI said at the weekend that there may be no significant developments in its investigation for "weeks to come".
AIB has accused a mid-ranking Allfirst currency trader, Mr John Rusnak, of failing to disclose huge trading losses in poorly judged unhedged investments on the dollar-yen exchange rate. Mr Rusnak's lawyers have denied that he stole from the bank. He has not been charged with any crime.
The fraud continued for a year. When it was uncovered, AIB was preparing to report post-tax profits of about €997 million for 2001. Due to the fraud, it is expected to report profits of €401 million at presentations next Wednesday.
AIB is expected to face tough questioning from stock market analaysts about the quality of its management and management controls. The scandal is the largest in the banking world since Nick Leeson brought Barings Bank to its knees in the mid-1990s.
