FIVE DIRECTORS at Bank of Ireland will stand down from its board at the bank’s annual meeting next month as part of the clearout sought under the Government’s “renewal” plans for the management and boards of the banks.
Executive directors Denis Donovan, head of capital markets, and Des Crowley, head of Irish and UK retail operations, will leave the board next month but remain as “core members” of the executive management team, the bank said.
Three non-executive directors, Paul Haran, Dennis Holt and Heather Ann McSharry, will not be seeking re-election to the board – known as “the court” – at the annual meeting on June 15th.
All five directors were appointed to the board in the years leading up to the banking crisis and the Government bank guarantee of September 2008.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan asked the main banks last month to show how they would clear out their boards and management through “renewal” plans.
“Further changes in governance arrangements, including recruitment of new directors, may therefore arise in the coming months as part of a planned process of change,” the bank said.
The bank said it was “engaged in a programme of change including renewal at management and board level” and that it made yesterday’s announcement “in the interests of facilitating further board renewal and a reduction in the size of the group board”.
Two executives – chief executive Richie Boucher and finance director John O’Donovan – remain on the board. Mr Boucher was appointed in 2006 and Mr O’Donovan, who is retiring next year, in 2007. Seven other non-executives remain on the board, only one of whom, Rose Hynes, was on the board before the crisis.
The remaining directors have joined the board since January 2009, including public interest directors Tom Considine, former Department of Finance secretary general; and Joe Walsh, former agriculture minister.
Mr Donovan and Mr Crowley will not be seek re-election as the bank sought to reduce the number of executive directors.
This was “reflecting the smaller size of the board and the balance between executive and non-executive directors”, the bank said.
Both joined the board in 2006, along with Mr Holt, a former executive director of UK bank Lloyds TSB and chief executive of insurer Axa in the UK and Ireland.
Mr Haran, a former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, joined the board in 2005.
Ms McSharry, a former managing director of Reckitt Benckiser and Boots Healthcare in Ireland, was appointed in 2007.
The bank said that the annual general meeting or “court” would take place in O’Reilly Hall in UCD at 11am on Wednesday, June 15th.
Bank of Ireland, which is 36 per cent State-owned, must raise €5.2 billion, including €1 billion of contingent capital, following the bank stress tests in March.
The bank has until the end of July to raise cash privately to avoid a further bailout, pushing it into Government control. Some €3.5 billion of State funds have been injected into the bank.
