Anglo Irish Bank: Chairman resigns, CEO retires, seven directors quit, Gov't nationalises bank
Sean FitzPatrick, formerly Chairman of Dublin-based Anglo-Irish bank, the second largest in the country, has resigned after disclosures that he borrowed - without authority - almost euro130 million to invest in a variety of ventures - and pensions schemes.
Yesterday, five more directors quit - but not until after the Irish government had stepped in and taken over the bank late on Friday. Two more had left in the past days.
The announcement that the Government planned the takeover resulted in the bank's shares being suspended - and the news aggravated an already jittery banking sector forcing Irish bank shares to plunge on Monday.
But Anglo-Irish shares had reached a desperate state: they had fallen more than 98% in 2008, much of it due to the disclosure of FitzPatrick's actions - and the failure of the bank and its auditors to find out about it.
Yet again, the value of audit is called into question - Fitzpatrick had been able to carry out his systematic use of the bank's funds for eight years.
Originally, the Irish government planned to inject euro 1.2 milliard in return for 75% of the bank. But on Thursday, that plan was dropped in favour of full nationalisation.
Brian Goggin, CEO of the bank, said yesterday that he would retire this year, a year early.
Download PDF version of this page