THE REVIEW of the temporary appointment of Dan O’Connor as executive chairman at AIB from the position of non-executive chairman and the vacant post of chief executive is ongoing, the Department of Finance has said.

AIB said last November when it appointed Mr O’Connor executive chairman and promoted internal candidate Colm Doherty to the new role of group managing director that the bank’s management structure would be reviewed in the middle of this year.

The bank said the review would be carried out by AIB’s board, Mr O’Connor and Mr Doherty in consultation with the Minister for Finance, and other stakeholders. It would assess whether the management format remained “relevant to the challenges and requirements of the new environment”.

The assessment was to be carried out following the finalisation of the National Asset Management Agency and the bank’s EU restructuring plan, on which the European Commission has yet to rule.

A spokesman for the department said the review was ongoing and could not say when it would be finalised. An AIB spokeswoman referred to last year’s statement.

Mr O’Connor was temporarily appointed executive chairman to allay concerns about the appointment of internal candidate to the role vacated by chief executive Eugene Sheehy last November.

The Financial Regulator is believed to be keen that AIB move to the more standardised management model under a non-executive chairman and chief executive.

AIB may need to formalise its structure soon before approaching investors to help raise €7.4 billion to meet the regulator’s new capital targets by the end of the year.

The bank said last November that Dr Michael Somers, the former chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency, would join AIB as deputy chairman but this appointment has not yet been confirmed. Dr Somers remains in the role of non-executive director, the third Government appointee on the board.

The role of chief risk officer has not yet been filled either – almost eight months since the bank said it would fill the position externally.

Mr Doherty told staff in an e-mail on Thursday that AIB was “on target” to raise the additional capital. “I can assure you that we are making progress in relation to our asset sales which form the first part of our recapitalisation plan,” he said. “We are on target to implement all parts of the plan before the end of the year.”

The bank is selling stakes in banks in the US and Poland and its UK business to help raise cash.