Another day, another suspected case of overcharging. Following hard on last week’s admission by AIB it had overcharged 40,000 customers, ‘senior sources’ have told The Sunday Tribune the bank is facing at least one more suspected case.
“The Sunday Tribune has been told that the AIB auditors have uncovered at least one more overcharging case and that the Financial Regulator has been informed.”
Bank of Ireland is finalising plans to launch a €1bn-plus rights issue within six to eight weeks – the first time an Irish bank has tried to raise funding in global capital markets since the onset of the credit crunch, The Sunday Times says.
The transfer of the bank’s first batch of property loans to Nama and European Commission approval of its business plan will determine the timing of the rights issue.
Goodbody stockbrokers switched large chunks of clients’ funds out of Bank of Ireland stocks into AIB during the stockmarket turmoil in November 2008, The Sunday Independent reports.
The potential significance of this is that Goodbody is wholly owned by AIB. The company denies the move was an attempt to bolster the value of shares in its beleaguered parent.
Most shareholders are happy to give their broker discretion to manage their portfolios without consulting them about every trade – after all, this is what people actually pay a stockbroker to do! Many discretionary funds are private pension schemes and billions of euro are tied up in these.
Goodbody is adamant the decision to shift the funds was “based on our views at the time as to the values and future performance”.
In a comment piece, Sunday Independent business editor Shane Ross counsels that “Goodbody’s words of wisdom about AIB should come with a health warning”.
“Brass neck goes a long way in the cut-throat world of the stock market,” Ross says. “And Goodbody has brass neck – in spades.”