AIB has no plans to sell its brokerage business Goodbody Stockbrokers, group chief executive Eugene Sheehy confirmed yesterday.
The bank's main competitor, Bank of Ireland, sold its 90.4 per cent stake in Davy Stockbrokers to the firm's management earlier this week for €316.6 million.
Speaking at the annual lunch of the Small Firms Association (SFA) yesterday, Mr Sheehy said AIB was not considering a similar move.
"It's a different situation to start off with in that the management in Davy's has a different arrangement with Bank of Ireland than the management of Goodbody's has with us," Mr Sheehy commented.
In relation to the bank's current performance, he said AIB was "very satisfied with the way things are going in all our markets".
Addressing the gathering at event - which marked the SFA's 30th anniversary - SFA chairman Pat Crotty said Ireland must lead the way in pushing down corporation tax rates even further. He argued that there was no reason to accept that the current corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent is as low as it could be.
"Our government must be steadfast in its resistance to any EU measures to introduce either tax harmonisation or a minimum rate of corporation tax," Mr Crotty stressed. "Lower business taxes increase government revenues, investment and employment."
As well as advocating tax cuts, Mr Crotty also called for the introduction of practical measures to help small businesses control their energy costs, such as the establishment of an industry energy efficiency fund and a reduction in rates of excise and VAT on fuel and energy.
He also highlighted the disproportionate burden placed on small businesses by the current regulatory environment which, he said, inhibits growth and "distracts management attention from running the business". He strongly recommended a reduction in "bureaucratic costs".
The guest of honour, the Tánaiste, Michael McDowell, said that despite the Labour's "public displays of compassion", the weak and the vulnerable in Irish society are considerably better off with the Progressive Democrats as the smaller party in Government. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)
