WITH the sort of publicity they are attracting these days, the unfortunate banks need a bit of a lift. They may be about to get it.
Bob Ryan is one of our best-known ex-bankers not appearing before an inquiry. He has lately made a name for himself as an artist but from 1949 to 1986 he was in the bank, ending up as head of PR for AIB. And he has written a book about his experiences and is now seeking a publisher - the manuscript shows the lighter side of banking.
The working title of the book, With a Tap on the Knee, refers to the medical test undergone by applicants. Ryan maintains that if you reacted to the doctor's tap it proved you were alive and your career in banking could commence. His book is full of observations mixed with humour. He was born into the business, as his father was there before him, but with the ICI scandal and other incidents in the 1980s, says he's happy he's out. "The avoidance of taxation was always part of it but in the past if you wanted a foreign bank account you got a train to Newry. Some took that route on their own and some were helped by people in the banks. It was endemic. I saw enough."
Most books on banking are on practicalities and law, says Ryan, while his is a memoir. He remembers the first bank strike in 1950, for example. "We didn't picket. We had to observe the branches from nearby. Which meant a nearby hostelry."
"Figures like Tony O'Malley, Andy O'Mahony, Bunny Carr and Terry Wogan were all in the bank. In the harsh economic climate of the 1940s it was either that, the civil service or the church. Certain figures haunted the place. We were, as O'Malley said, like seagulls wintering on the rocks against the storm. This is what I have written about."