Alegría - Financial Services Union · • Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría • The Little Big Club...

APRIL 2012

O2 WHAT A CIRCUS!

Alegría Win two ticketsto see Cirquedu Soleil atDublin’s O2

See Pages 56-57

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2 SPECTRUM april 2012

SHORT CUTS NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOA

shortsdirect

Spectrum is published by IBOA – The Finance Union,IBOA House, Stephen Street Upper, Dublin 8and 29, Malone Road, Belfast. BT9 6RU.

Telephone: 00353-1-4755908 and0044-28-90200130

[email protected] www.iboa.ie www.iboa.org.uk

General Secretary: Larry BroderickHonorary Secretary: Tommy Kennedy

Communications Manager: Séamas Sheils

Advertising enquiries to Anna O’Dohertyor Louise O’Donnell in IBOA House.

Spectrum is printed on recycled paper and wrappedfor posting in oxy-degradable poly thene at W & G Baird,Antrim, Northern Ireland.

NATIONAL IRISHCHEQUES OUTNational Irish Bank will no longeraccept cheque lodgements atits 28 branches in the Republicfrom April 23.

See Page 4

AIB CUTS FREEBANKINGAIB is tightening its “free bank-ing” facility for the majority ofits personal current accountcustomers.

See Page 5

NEWS REVIEW• Errant banks to be named

and shamed• AIB implicated in planning

scandal by Mahon Tribunal• Macho culture harms

British banking• Guerilla art focuses on crisis

See Pages 10-17

REGULATINGSHADOW BANKS

A major international consultationis under way to devise newmeans to regulate “shadow”banking entities worldwide.

See Page 6

UK FACES NEWMIS-SELLINGSCANDALComplex financial products mayhave been sold to small businessesby leading British banks.

See Page 7

SPECIAL FOCUS• Getting Back to Lending?• Who is regulating the

regulators?• Goldman Sachs in Muppet

show• O’Leary for Taoiseach?• Health and safety at work

See Pages 18-27

GOING ROGUEAs a London-based trader pleadsguilty to fraud in New York,regulators are probing UBSclaim of £1.5 billion losses dueto unauthorised deals by KwekuAdoboli (above).

See Page 9

IBOA NEWS• Bank Secretaries to meet in

Galway• Broderick intervenes in RBS

bonus row• Training up – accreditation

and new courses• IBOA in Congress

See Pages 28-37

april 2012 SPECTRUM 3

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WORK AGENDA LIFE & STYLE ARTS & LEISURENEWS

WORK AGENDA• No agreement on change

at Bank of Ireland• Pay deal for majority in

Northern Bank• Ulster Bank demands 950

more job cuts• AIB restructuring plan

See Pages 38-45

LIFE & STYLE• Consumption of fast food

linked to depression• Positive steps to reduce

cancer risk• Two books examine various

aspects of the banking crisisSee Pages 46-53

ARTS & LEISURE• The Hunger Games• Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría• The Little Big Club• From Jack to Trap• Prize Crossword, Picture

Board and Sudoku• UltraViolet

See Pages 54-63Cover Picture: One of the performers in Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría – which will play at Dublin’s O2 arena laterthis month (See pages 56-57 for more details).

Nomoremisterknightguy

Just plain Mister: Fred Goodwin.

The former Chief Executiveof Ulster Bank’s parent com-pany, the Royal Bank ofScotland, Fred Goodwin,was stripped of his knight-hood recently by the BritishGovern ment as a publicrebuke for his role in causingBritain's financial crisis. Goodwin was forced tostep down as chief executiveIn October 2008 and takeearly retirement after thebank was bailed out by theBritish State – which nowowns 82% of RBS. For many RBS staff – andespecially former staff – thepublic humiliation of the ex-CEO offers little comfort. Goodwin was originallyhonoured with a knighthoodafter implementing a ruth-

less job-cutting programmewhich earned him the nick-name of “Fred the Shred.” And of course, since thebanking group was broughtto the point of collapse as aresult of Goodwin’s blindpursuit of the disastrous take-over with ABN Amro, manythousands more redundanciesare being implemented acrossthe RBS group as the newmanagement team attemptsto repair the group’s balancesheet as quickly as possible. The poster boy for theboom has now become theposter boy for the bust – eventhough, of course, he wasnot solely responsible for thecrash. Indeed, some com-mentators have come closeto expressing sympathy for

Goodwin as the scapegoatfor the reckless behaviour ofother senior executives facili-tated by lax regulation. Among the other keyplayers in the British bankingcrisis under the spotlight areSir Victor Blank, who was incharge at Lloyds TSB when itwas also rescued by theBritish State, and Sir CallumMcCarthy, chairman of theUK’s regulatory body, theFinancial Services Authorityfrom 2003 to 2008, who hasbeen criticised for failing totake action to avert the crisis. While losing his knight -hood has probably come asa blow to Goodwin’s pride,it will no doubt be offset bythe fact that his very lucrativepension remains intact.

Fred the Shred loses knighthood –but holds onto generous pension!

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US banks strike$25bn deal onhousing abusesUS government officials havereached a $25bn (E18.7bn)deal with five banks – Bank ofAmerica, Citigroup, J P MorganChase, Wells Fargo and AllyFinancial – over alleged abusesin the housing market. Analysts have suggestedthat the agreement may pro-vide help to home-owners innegative equity with up toone million people now likelyto have their debts reduced ortheir loans refinanced at lowerrates. The deal is also expectedto give banks immunity fromcivil lawsuits over so-called“robo-signing” cases – wherelenders rushed through paper-work in order to speed uprepossessions.

National Irish Bank wroteto thousands of itscustomers recently to saythat, from April 23, it will nolonger accept cheque lodge-ments at its 28 branches inthe Republic even thoughit will continue to providethem with cheque books. The Danske Bank sub-sidiary stopped taking cash inits branches at the start of2010 – citing concerns oversecurity and the cost of hand-ling cash. NIB customers were advisedto use An Post offices to lodgeand withdraw cash from theiraccounts. An Post has nowagreed to handle cheques forNIB customers, too.

National Irish Bankcheques out

EU to reviewbanking payThe EU Commission is con-sidering new measures toregulate bankers’ pay, includ-ing a limit on how muchsenior executives are paid inrelation to junior employees,and a fixed ratio of bonuses tosalary, according to MichelBarnier, the Commissioner forInternal Market and Services.

Isn’t it time youjoined the club?OPENING HOURS:The Club opens at 5:30pm from Monday-Friday.

AVAILABLE FOR PARTIES:Available for parties on request (any day).There is no charge for parties and room booking.Please phone 02890-382866 after 5.30pm ore-mail: [email protected]

BelfastBankers’Club31 Malone RoadBelfast BT9 6RU

The one-time owner ofNorthern Bank and NationalIrish Bank, NAB bought Clydes-dale in 1987 and Yorkshire in1990 and operates a total of300 bank branches employ-ing 8,500 staff.

Until recently NAB hadbeen considered as a potentialbuyer for other bank branchesbeing put up for sale in Britain. The strategic review is dueto conclude in time for thebank’s interim results in May.

If NAB decides to sell itsBritish holdings, analysts havesuggested that NBNK, thenew bank run by formerNorthern Rock chief executive,Gary Hoffman, may be inter-ested in acquiring them.

NAB orders review of future ofClydesdale and Yorkshire banksNational Australia Bank (NAB) is reviewing the future of its two Britishsubsidiaries – Clydes dale Bank and Yorkshire Bank – in the light of subduedeconomic growth in the UK and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone.

Michel BarnierEU Commissioner for Internal

Market and Services

National Irish Bank, College Green, Dublin.


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Hyho.ie provides a rangeof special deals for IBOAmembers. Check the IBOA web-sites for details of the latestsoffers on holidays for desti-nations worldwide, as wellas specialised golf trips andsports packages. For every booking madeon the Hyho site or viaour dedicated call centre,

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Lloyds aimsto cut 1,600more jobsLloyds Banking Group hasannounced 1,600 more jobcuts across a number ofdivisions as part of its plan toremove 15,000 staff from thepayroll over three years. Condemning the proposedcuts, unions have accused thebank of ”making employeespay for the fault of others.”

Lloyds hitsex-chiefs’bonusesBonus payments worth £2.2mhave been clawed back fromthe former Chief Executiveof Lloyds Banking Group,Eric Daniels, and three of hisformer colleagues as a resultof the losses arising from themis-selling of payment pro-tection insurance. The former senior executiveswere due to receive the bonusawards for their roles in theintegration of HBOS into Lloydswhich involved cutting 28,000jobs.

RBS and Goodwin suedby angry investorsUlster Bank’s parent, RBSand a number of formerdirectors – including ex-CEOFred Goodwin and ex-Chair,Sir Tom McKillop, have beenserved with a £2.4 billiondamages claim by angryinvestors in the Bank, whichis now 82% State-owned.

The RBOS ShareholdersAction Group claim thatthe Bank misled investorsin the prospectus for its£12 billion rights issue tofinance the take-over of theDutch Bank, ABN Amro, justfive months before it wasbailed out by the State.

AIB withdraws ‘freebanking’ for manyAIB is tightening its “freebanking” facility for personalcurrent account customers inorder to save costs – includingthe “significant” cost of provid-ing money transmission services. Currently, to qualify forfree banking, customers withcurrent accounts must com-plete at least one transactioneach quarter using an AIB debitcard and at least one paymentusing phone or internet banking. But from May 28 customersmust keep their credit balanceabove E2,500 for a full quarterto avoid maintenance and trans -action fees. AIB says that 40% of itspersonal current account holderswill still qualify after the change– including holders of studentaccounts, graduate accountsand over 60s’ accounts. Describing the decision asan ‘insult,’ Ann Fitzgerald, theChief Executive of the NationalConsumer Agency, said she isasking the Financial Regulatorto rule if AIB has breached itsconsumer protection code. Meanwhile AIB staff mustonce again bear the brunt ofcustomer anger.

Photo: Gareth Chaney/Photocall Ireland

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Special Offer forIBOA members

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Shadow banks havebeen defined as anybusinesses that engagein activity involving “creditintermediation outsidethe banking system.” They include moneymarket funds, conduits,securitisation lendingoperations and repos. Some analysts haveargued that the absenceof transparency in theshadow banking systemcontributed to the finan-cial crisis. So the G20 and theEU want to make sure allbusinesses in the shadowbanking sector are pro-perly supervised andregulated to address therisk of them causing orcontributing to a finan-cial crisis in future.

The European Com-mission launched a GreenPaper consultation inMarch setting out whatis already contained inEU law to tackle theserisks and seeking viewson what more needs tobe done.

The EU consultationis linked to a global pro-cess being overseen bythe international FinancialStability Board under theauspices of the G20. Reflecting on thechallenge of regulatingshadow banks, AdairTurner, the Chairman ofthe UK’s Financial ServicesAuthority, noted recentlythat shadow banking isnot “something paralleltoand separate from thecore banking system, butdeeply intertwined with it.” Among the variousrecommendations nowbeing considered inter-nationally to address theissue are capital chargesand curbs on a bank'sexposure to shadowbanking entities.

Shadow boxingRegulating the financial fringes

Globally they account for over E45 trillion or just under £38 trillion.Although they are not banks, they sometimes act like banks. So“shadow banks” could also create the same risks as ordinary bankswithout necessarily being fully covered by the same regulation as them.

UK financial regulatorychief, Adair Turner

UK’s biggest banksreceive hiddenState benefitsworth £45bnAs well as direct State investment enjoyed byindividual banking institutions in the UK – likeRBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock – Britain’s‘Big Four’ banks also benefitted from anindirect ‘subsidy’ worth nearly £45bn in 2010because they were considered to be too bigto be allowed to fail. The figure – calculated by the New Eco-nomics Foundation following earlier researchby the Bank of England – reflects the fact thatBarclays Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Groupand RBS were able toborrow money at lowerinterest rates because of the widespread be-lief that the UK Government would interveneif the institutions got into difficulty. The independent think-tank reckons thatthese lower interest rates were worth a total of£45bnto the UK’s ‘Big Four’ banks.


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Dutch pension fundsues Goldman Sachsover mis-sellingThe Dutch civil service pension scheme, ABP, haslaunched a law suit against Goldman Sachs Groupover the sale of mortgage-backed securities. One of the largest pensionschemes in the world withassets of E246bn, ABP claimsthat Goldman Sachs sold itcollateralised debt obligations(CDOs) which were far riskierthan the investment bank hadsuggested. Indeed in the formal com-plaint against Goldman, ABPclaims that the investmentbank knew that the loanswere destined to fail. A spokesman for ABP said:“Goldman Sachs knew thequality of the underlyingmortgages from the start tothe end and must have beenaware they did not deserve aAAA rating.” The pension scheme hasinitiated similar suits againstJ P Morgan, Credit Suisse,Deutsche Bank and GMAC, thefinancial branch of GeneralMotors.

Jersey sore and may be getting sorer: The Goldman Sachs Towerin Jersey City, New Jersey

Hector Sants

head up a new banking su-pervisory body as part of amajor shake-up of the regu-lation of British banking duein early 2013. The FSA is due to divideinto two – the PrudentialRegulatory Authority (PRA)which is to be part of theBank of England (with Santsoriginally designated as thePRA’s head), and the FinancialConduct Authority, a separateconsumer watchdog. The resignation of theformer Credit Suisse banker isthe latest in a series of depar-tures by senior FSA staff.

FSA boss to quit soonThe Chief Executive of Britain’s Financial ServicesAuthority, Hector Sants, is to leave the regulatorybody in June. His imminent departurehas come as a major surprisesince Sants was expected to

UK banks face newmis-selling scandalSome of the UK's leading banks are facing allegationsof mis-selling complex financial products to manysmall businesses without providing them with sufficientinformation on what they were being sold. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS are facing legalaction which may ultimately cost billions in damages.

A large number of smalland medium-sized enterprisesclaim that they were forcedto take out highly complexderivatives as a form of insur-ance against interest rate rises. These instruments – whichwere highly profitable for thelenders – resulted in substantiallosses for the borrowers wheninterest rates fell. According to the SundayTelegraph, Michael Dempster,Professor Emeritus at CambridgeUniversity’s Centre for FinancialResearch believes the claimsfaced by banks could run tobillions of pounds. This latest incident followsa major scandal over PaymentProtection Insurance (PPI) – inwhich UK banks and insurancebrokers could face bills of up to£3 billion after mis-selling PPI toas many as 12 million customers(see Spectrum May 2011).

Doubly sorry: Barclays CEO, Bob Diamond may have to apologiseto customers once again (Photo: Daniel Lewis)

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Scope of EUbank stresstests may beexpandedEuropean Union regulators mayexpand the scope of the bankstress tests in 2013 to includechecks as to whether banks’business models are too risky orvulnerable, according to theReuters news agency. The European BankingAuthority (EBA) has alreadyheld a “brainstorming” sessionto explore ideas for next year’stests. Among the new elementsreported to be under consider-ation are evaluations of howthe banks’ business models areevolving after off-loading assetsto reduce their need for capital. The stress tests may alsoinclude assessments of whetherthese institutions can survivewithout ECB funding when itneeds to be paid back; as wellas the schedules for repayingfunds.

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Tesco Bankdelays moveinto currentaccounts

Tesco Bank is reported tohave postponed the launchof its current account facilityuntil next year. It had previously intendedto launch current accounts thisautumn. Explaining the delay, Tescosaid that the launch was beingdelayed to allow for the intro-duction of new industry-widesystems in the UK to enablecustomers switch betweencurrent account providers moreeasily.

Only five banks worldwidehave made the 145-strongWorld’s Most Ethical (WME)Companies list for 2012, pro-duced by the EthisphereInstitute (EI) –an internationalthink-tank, based in New Yorkand dedicated to the “creation,advancement and sharing ofbest practices in businessethics, corporate social respon-sibility, anti-corruption andsustainability.” The five banks selectedfor the honour are NationalAustralia Bank (Australia),Old National Bank (USA),

Rabobank (Netherlands),Standard Chartered Bank(UK) and Westpac Group(Australia).

The EI awards the titleto those companies which“show leadership in promot-ing ethical business standardsand practices by exceedinglegal minimums for com-pliance, introducing innovativeideas that benefit the publicand forcing their competitorsto follow suit. According to the Insti-tute, the chosen companies“demonstrate how corporatecitizenship is undoubtedlytied to the success of a com-pany’s brand and bottomline.”

Only five “ethical” banks in world!


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Swiss and Britishregulators launchprobe into UBStrading lossesThe UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) and theSwiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)have both launched enforcement investigations intothe £1.5 billion losses at UBS – which are alleged tohave been caused by unauthorised deals conducted byLondon-based trader, Kweku Adoboli.

He has been accused of twocounts of fraud and two offalse accounting. After entering a plea of notguilty, Adoboli was refusedbail by a London court recentlyand will remain in custody inWandsworth Prison until histrial in September. The trading losses havealready forced UBS into majorchanges in management –including the departure ofits chief executive, OswaldGruebel, and the bank's chiefrisk officer. The regulatory investiga-tions by FSA and FINMA willassess the effectiveness of thecontrols in place at UBS toprevent unauthorised trading.UBS said it would co-operatefully with its regulators. Meanwhile, UBS is con-ducting its own investigationinto the losses arising from whatit describes as “an unauthorisedtrading incident.”

Kweku Adoboli

The British-educated sonof a retired United Nationsofficial from Ghana, Adoboliwas arrested after the losseswere revealed last September.

London-basedrogue bankerpleads guilty inNew York courtThe global nature of international finance wascaptured in a recent court case in which a London-based banking executive employed by a Swiss bankfaced trial in New York. David Higgs, a managingdirector at Credit Suisse inLondon in 2007 and 2008,pleaded guilty to criminalcharges that he and somecolleagues inflated the valueof mortgage securities in thebank’s portfolio in order toboost their bonuses. The fraud was perpetratedby Higgs, Head of HedgeTrading, and his boss, KareemSerageldin, Head of StructuredCredit Trading, along with twoNew York-based Credit Suisseemployees, Faisal Siddiqui andSalmaan Siddiqui (no relation).

As a result of the over-statement of the value of themortgage securities, CreditSuisse had to announce a£1.8bn write-down in March2008, a month after finding“mismarkings” by the groupof employees.

David Higgs

US bank buys stockbrokingarm from RBSUlster Bank parent company,RBS, has agreed to sell itshistoric British stockbrokingarm, Hoare Govett, to the USinvestment bank Jefferies. The sale seems to be partof the Bank’s plan for a radicalreduction in its investmentbanking operations.

State-ownedRBS spent $4mon lobbyingUS lawmakersUlster Bank parent company,RBS, spent $4.13m on in-houseand commercial lobbyists toinfluence US federal legislatorsbetween October 2008 andDecember 2011, according todocuments released by the USGovernment recently. The bank lobbied US Con-gress representatives on con-sumer protection laws – likethe Consumer Overdraft Pro-tection Fair Practices Act andthe US Credit Card Act – aswell as on the Dodds-FrankWall Street Act – intended toreform the US banking system. This activity has raisedmajor concerns in Britain sinceRBS is 82% owned by the State.

AIB set to return toprofit “in two years”The almost entirely State-owned AIB Group is ontrack to return to sustainable profitability by2014, according to its Chief Executive Officer, DavidDuffy. The AIB chief was commenting on the Bank’s latestannual results which revealed a loss after tax of E2.3billion for 2011 – down from the record loss of E10.2billion in 2010. Operating profit, before provisions, totalled E68million in 2011, compared to E658 million a year earlier. The Bank attributed the reduction in operating profitto lower levels of income, down by E519 million or 22%,and a rise in costs of E71 million. AIB said it had set aside E7.9 billion for loan losses,compared with E6.02 billion last year.

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Our livesbegin to endthe day webecome silentabout thingsthat matter.Martin Luther

King Jr.

new

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ART ATTACKAn impromptu exhibition oftwenty-six provocative art-works appeared overnighton Dublin’s North Wall Quayrecently – on the hoardingsaround the site of theunfinished office block thatwas to have been the newheadquarters for the nowdisgraced Anglo Irish Bank.

See Page 14-15

MACHO CULTUREHARMS BRITISHBANKING

Womern are being preventedfrom being promoted to thetop positions in British bankingby a “macho culture” amongsenior executives.

See Page 12

CHEQUES, SPIES& MEASURINGTAPEThe recent true confessions ofone time and motion analysthas prompted another – IBOAmember David Lemon – toreflect on some of his experi-ence in Irish banking.

See Page 16-17

SANTANDER TO CLOSE SOME UKBRANCHES AS IT ACQUIRES MORESantander has announced that it is to close 56 branches in itsUK banking network by the end of June – but has stressed thatthe closures will not involve any job cuts. Following the acquisition of the Abbey National, Alliance &Leicester and Bradford & Bingley Building Societies, the Spanishbank’s UK subsidiary now has multiple branches in some townsand cities. The bank also intends toopen 25 branches in towns andfinancial centres where it cur-rently does not have a pres-ence – as well as integrating 314branches and offices acquiredfrom Royal Bank of Scotland inline with the EU’s requirementfor institutions in receipt ofState aid to “downsize.” Alongside its commitmentto avoid any redundancies, Santander has also pledgedthat it will not leave any town or financial centre where itcurrently has a full service branch. Santander added that all the branches identified for closurehad to meet a number of criteria: they are in towns and financialcentres where it has multiple branches; the other branches inthe town have capacity to service the additional customers withno detrimental impact; and the workforce can be absorbed into


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New law to allow Ombudsman topublicise rogue finance companies

A similar power – which isalready available to the UKauthorities – was used to high-light the recent scandal overthe mis-selling of payment pro-tection insurance. The Republic’s Minister forFinance, Michael Noonan saidrecently that the Governmentwill accept a Bill proposed byFianna Fáil to allow a record ofcomplaints against financialcompanies to be made public. The new provision is expectedto cover banks, mortgage brokers,

insurance companies and brokers(including health insurance),stockbrokers and hire purchaseproviders. The former ombudsman, JoeMeade, wrote to the Depart-ment of Finance about changingthe law in 2009. His successor,Bill Prasifka, has also lobbiedconsistently for the power topublish a list of the worst-offending companies. His officealready produces its own internal‘league table’ – but this hasnever been published.

As well as highlighting the abuse of political power and thecorruption of the planning process, the recently publishedreport of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Mattersand Payments in the Republic, chaired by Justice Alan Mahon,also highlighted major concerns about the role of AIB –which was centrally involved in the Quarryvale development– one of the central issues investigated by the Tribunal. Fearing heavy losses on the project in 1991, AIB pressedthe original developer, Tom Gilmartin, to hand over controlof the project to Owen O’Callaghan –with the Bank takinga 20% stake in the company behind the development –which engaged Frank Dunlop to pursue the issue of plan-ning permission with the appropriate authorities. The success of the project not only required the “acqui-sition” (literally!) of support from local councillors: it alsoneeded a favourable tax status designation from the thenMinister for the Environment, Padraig Flynn. The process was facilitated by AIB in a variety of waysincluding the cashing of fictitious cheques to pay off localcouncillors as well as allowing loans to be used for purposesother than that for which approval was originally granted –a lax attitude which was also evident in the recent crisis.

WORK AGENDA LIFE & STYLE ARTS & LEISURENEWS WORK AGENDA LIFE & STYLE ARTS & LEISURENEWS

The names of financial institutions in the Republic that arefound to mistreat customers will be publicised in futurefollowing a change in the law which will allow the FinancialServices Ombudsman to ‘name and shame’ those companieswhich have consistently breached consumer rights.

Errant banksto be ‘namedand shamed’

Financial Services Ombudsman, William Prasifka(Photo: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

Mahon Report highlights AIB’srole in payments to politicians

AIB implicatedin planningscandal

Justice Alan Mahon(Photo: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

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NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOASHORT CUTS

A “macho culture” in Britishbanking is the biggestbarrier to women reachingsenior positions, according toa recent report by the Instituteof Leadership and Manage-ment (ILM) in Britain. The ILM survey of 800 menand women found that nearlyhalf of women working inbanking believe they face careerbarriers because of their gender,

and more than one-third of menagree. Almost three-quarters of thewomen and half of the men –who took part in the survey – saythat the attitudes of senior maleexecutives are major barriers toprogress. The organisational culture,the lack of flexible workingopportunities and the shortageof female role models are among

Charles Elvin of theInstitute of Leadershipand Management: Youare losing very competentpeople all the way throughthe process.

Macho culture in Britishbanking wastes talent

A glass ceiling of prejudice among senior executives is still preventing women’s progress in banking (Photo: iStockphoto).

For the latest news on workplacedevelopments, for special memberoffers and discounts and for detailsof sports and social events, seewww.iboa.ie or www.iboa.co.uk

the other main barriers to women’scareer progression identified inthe survey. Overall, 87% of the womensurveyed feel that some form ofpositive action is needed, com-pared to two-thirds of the men. The report identifies flexibleworking as the most popularsolution – favoured by 68% ofthe women and 42% of the men. Only 19% of the women and10% of the men feel that genderquotas should be used to improvethe representation of women insenior roles. “It is in danger of being reallyquite a dreadful waste,” saidILM Chief Executive, Charles Elvin,“if you are losing very, very com-petent people all the way throughthe process, several steps beforethe board. It is bad for theorganisation, bad for the countryand bad for society.”


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ArtattackAnglo inspiresguerilla paintingexhibition

The skeletal hulk of what wasto have been the new head-quarters of the now failed AngloIrish Bank is a fitting monument tothe delusional dreams of avaricethat turned into a global nightmare. The derelict shell on Dublin’s NorthWall Quay also provided the backdropfor a guerrilla exhibition by a group ofartists hoping to stimulate a debate aboutthe role of the National Asset Manage-ment Agency (NAMA) and the impact ofthe ongoing debt crisis in Ireland. The unfinished property was acquiredby NAMA when Anglo was taken intopublic ownership by the previous govern-ment in the Republic. It is said to be a targetfor purchase by the Irish Central Bank.


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In the exhibition entitled ‘RomanticIreland,’ the artists each take a line fromthe W. B. Yeats poem, September 2013,which is well known for its refrain:“Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone – It’swith O’Leary in the grave.” A total of twenty-six quite provoca-tive images are on display at the site –braving the elements, the graffiti taggersand the authorities. Among the more striking are theassembly of politicians and disgracedbanking bosses – including Bertie Ahernand Michael Fingleton – to illustrate theline: “Yet they were of a different kind.” Former Health Minister, Mary Harney,is also pilloried for her attempts to trans-fer more of Irish health service into thehands of private operators – to realise theline: “You have dried the marrow fromthe bone.” In terms of the bailout by the Troika,which is the theme of the image toillustrate the line: “But fumble in thegreasy till,” Enda Kenny might feel harddone by personally – as the decision wastaken by his predecessors. But if the Taoiseach is seen as theembodiment of the entire political classwho must also take their share of respon-sibility for the current situation, someartistic licence is permissible. The parallels between Yeats’ evocationof the flight of the wild geese and thereturn of emigration driven by risingunemployment are also highlighted onthe wall.

There was a storyin the press acouple of monthsago about GrahamGibbons from South Wales, whowas charged with voyeurism afterusing his camera phone to filmsex with his girlfriend without herknowledge. The UK’s Sexual OffencesAct criminalises those who watch,for gratification purposes, peopleengaged in a private act withouttheir consent. However, Mr Gibbons, who is a timeand motion expert, claimed that “makingthe half hour sex tape was an academicresearch project in which he applied hisprofessional expertise to his private life.” Why are they still called sex tapes, bythe way? Was he using the latest reel-to-reel iPhone? Back in the 1970s and 1980s I workedin Northern Bank’s Organisation & MethodsDepartment, which encompassed timeand motion study. But I was never givensuch an exotic assignment as the researchundertaken by Mr Gibbons.

Usually I got to time bank officials‘amount encoding’ cheques or sortingitems into alphabetical order for sub-sequent manual ledger posting. Sometimes those being timed triedto pull the wool over my eyes by workingat a slower rate than normal, envisagingthat they were creating a bit of siestatime for themselves whenever our teamworked out the time allowance for thetasks. Naturally I did not make them privyto the information that any timings thatwere not accompanied by the sweatlashing off the participant were declarednull and void. The apparent rationale for Mr Gibbons’conduct was to prove his suspicions thathe was making more effort than his loverduring sex. As a result of his analysis of therecording he was able to demonstratethat he “gave her 20 minutes of satisfaction,followed by 5 minutes of intercoursebefore a further 9 minutes of satisfaction.” Using my own professional expertiseI quickly noted that this adds up to34 minutes, which is not half an hour. Butsetting aside this sloppy mistake, from

a time and motion perspective, this isinsufficient detail. Had I come back to the office withonly two categories of work activity for‘amount encoding,’ my manager wouldhave pointed out the error of my ways,in rather colourful language, and toldme not to even think about claimingexpenses for the exercise. I would have had to split the taskdown into its component parts, e.g.,walk to supervisor’s desk to collect bundleof cheques, check encoding machine forsupplies and confirm its operational status,sit down, lift cheque, read amount, keyamount (average 8 key strokes), dropcheque into transport channel, etc. Readers will be relieved to know thatI do not intend to speculate on what thecomponent parts of Mr Gibbons’ activitiesmight have been. From a banking perspective when-ever we eventually arrived at a standardtime for the task, we then added on a12.5% rest and relaxation allowance. Explanation of this fact to Branch staffwas generally met with ironic laughter or

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CHEQUE

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SPIES &

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IBOA member, David Lemon,looks back on an era

when time and motionstudies were all the

rage in the Irishfinancial sector


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indeed an observation that we weretreating them to similar activity to thatundertaken by Mr Gibbons. As there was no mention in theGibbons case of a traditional post-coitalcigarette, I assume his lover was deniedher rest and relaxation allowance. We used to have timings for hundredsof Branch activities to enable us to calcu-late how many staff each Branch required. We supplemented this by visitingeach Branch to collect a truckload ofstatistics, to gain an ‘on the ground’appreciation of local conditions and towitness first hand the reported heavingthrongs of customers clamouring forservice. Invariably when we visited and notedthe relative tranquillity evident in thebanking hall, we were always told: “youshould have been here last week, wewere queued out to the door.” Of course, the good old days ofscientifically obtained standard times andBranch visits to assess required staffinglevels soon ended when somebody workedout how many people we had on ourteamand the size of our expenses bill. Butit was money well spent, in my view –

well I certainly enjoyed spending all thoseevening meal and mileage allowances! The world of computerised bankingwas arriving and statistics could beextracted automatically without theneed for someone to drive all the way toOmagh, stay there for three days andget blathered every night at the bank’sexpense.

Out of time and goingthrough the motions!

Soon, however, it became too costly tomaintain a central team to interpret allthose automatically generated statisticsand software was written to calculatethe required staffing levels in each Branch.With a much reduced central team avail-able the standard times underpinningthe activities soon became obsolete andnew activities weren’t being picked up atall. Nevertheless if the computer printoutsaid you needed 10.4 staff, then that iswhat you got and we were smart enoughto make sure it was up to the RegionalManager to defend the credibility ofthe system. Ah, the benefits of the linemanagement philosophy!

Whenever the inevitable claims ofunderstaffing, or earache to give it itstechnical name, became too persistent,and was accompanied by appropriatelevels of anguished wailing and sweatlashing off brows, the Regional Managerwould arrange for someone from theever diminishing central team to visit tocarry out a review. And guess what? Itwould turn out that we should have beenthere the previous week. Nowadays the need for a system todetermine how many staff are needed ina particular Branch is declining. By thetime an understaffing problem is reported,ignored, stalled, prioritised, deferred,accepted in principle and finally investi-gated, someone else has decided to closethe Branch. It’s much simpler than all thattime and motion stuff. And go on, admit it, you’re dying toknow what happened to Mr Gibbons. Hewas acquitted after the Recorder at theCardiff court told the jury: “he is chargedwith voyeurism, not with being an odd-ball,” Ten minutes later, they returnedtheir ‘not guilty’ verdict. Afterwards MrGibbons said, “I was only doing my job.”The last of a dying breed, eh!

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focusdirect

WHO GUARDSTHEGUARDIANS?Three American academics, whoare all former regulators, claimthat the absence of effectiveregulation was one of the maincauses of the global economiccrisis. In their new book, Guardiansof Finance, they propose thecreation of a new mechanism toprevent more systemic dangers

GOLDMAN SACHS UNDER FIREFROM ONE OF ITS OWNGoldman Chief Executive, Lloyd Blankfein (above) has been engagedin a major damage limitation exercise recently following the contro-versial disclosure in a resignation letter from one of his disenchantedemployees that many of the Bank’s executives hold very patronisingattitudes towards their own clients

See Pages 22-23

TOO TIRED TOWORK SAFELYWorkers in Australia are suffer-ing from an ‘unrecognisedepidemic’ of tiredness, accord-ing to a new study, with work-ing parents particularly badlyaffected.

See Page 25

WORK STRESSRISING IN NIThe recession is adding signifi-cantly to the incidence of work-related stress in Northern Ireland– leading to more employeestaking time off, according tonew research.

See Page 26


“There arethree kinds ofmen. The onesthat learn byreadin’. The fewwho learn byobservation.The rest of themhave to pee onthe electricfence forthemselves.”

Will Rogers

O’LEARY FOR TAOISEACH?The notion that the Ryanair chief should be running the country has beenadvanced by a number of commentators recently. But is his ruthless streakmore about bullying the vulnerable – than defending them?

See Pages 24-25

OBSERVEWORKERS’MEMORIALDAY APRIL 28

In the dim and distant past ofthe boom times – boom, ofcourse, being the sound of aloud explosion following aperiod of severe over-inflationor over-heating of a fragilestructure! – life was so simplewhen it was all built on sand. When a business got intodifficulty, the owner or chiefexecutive would call into thebank to arrange more credit.If his business happened to bein property, this turned into aformality as the banks wereliterally throwing money atthese patriotic entrepreneurs! And the more ambitious theproject the more the institutionsliked it – because higher risksmean higher profits, right?! And if our man didn’t likethe terms on offer from hisbank, he could just cross theroad to another institutionand virtually write his own! No place for prudence orcaution in this never-endingcycle of boom and boomer!


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“If you’re not in, you can’twin” became the unofficialslogan of the banking sector –as finance houses competedwith each other to lend, lend,lend! But that was another time–but unfortunately not anotherplace. Now that banks are focussedon rebuilding their balancesheets, every penny and everycent counts –how else are thesenior executives to get theirbonuses? – and credit is tight. Borrowers are subjected tomuch greater scrutiny as manyfinancial institutionsmove frombeing heavily risk-addicted tobeing just as equally risk-averse. Not only have many highlyspeculative ventures lost theirformer allure – but even somemarquee names in the retailsector now meet much stifferresistance even to requests fortemporary measures to enablethem to weather the squallsand flurries of the recession.

Many financialinstitutions –which are them-selves in verydire straits – arefacing demandsto extend loanand other creditfacilities to ailingbusinesses.

Should they riskthrowing “goodmoney after bad”to keep a failingenterpriseafloat – alongwith the jobs ofits employees?

Or should they be“cruel to be kind”and pull the plug?

The State-supported banksin particular, face many difficultdecisions. After all, previousreckless lending is the reasonfor their current predicament.So any further recklessness issurely unacceptable. These institutions are alsounder intense pressure to showa healthier balance sheet – inthe wake of the substantial levelof investment by the State. On the other hand, if abank’s new caution on creditturns an ailing business into afailing business – with signifi-cant job losses as a result – thebank is likely to be condemnedas callous and ungrateful. While some politicians tryto make a career of being allthings to all men, banks shouldnot be expected to meet com-peting aspirations equally. Eachhas consequences and some aremutually exclusive. We needmuch greater honesty all round.If only our society was matureenough to embrace it!

Squaring the Vicious Circle

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20

The Roman poet, Juvenal, iscredited with originallyposing the question, “quiscustodiet ipsos custodes” – orwho guards the guards them-selves?” in the late first orearly second century AD. Although similar questionshave often exercised legislatorsand philosophers since then,in the wake of the globalfinancial crisis the questionhas been increasinglydirected at the financialregulators over their failureto act in time to prevent thereckless behaviour thatfuelled economic meltdownon an international scale. Three American academics,who are all formerregulators, claim that theabsence of effective regulationwas one of the main causesof the global economic crisis.They have proposed thecreation of a new mechanismto prevent more systemicdangers in future.

SPECTRUM april 2012

In their recently publishedbook, Guardians of Finance, JamesBarth of the Milken Institute, GerardCaprio of Williams College andRoss Levine of Brown Universityargue that complex financialproducts –which helped to masktoxic sub-prime mortgages in theUS –were not the sole explanationfor the global financial crisis ascountries like Ireland and Spain –where the use of these newproducts was not widespread –have also suffered because of faultyoversight of their financial sectors. In extracts published in a recentissue of the Milken InstituteReview, the three authors arguethat regulatory shortcomings layat the heart of the crisis, asking: “Why, for example, did USregulators not react to the alarmingincreases in leverage at financialinstitutions, or the shift of trillionsof dollars of assets from banks’

balance sheets that were pack-aged into complex securities? “Why were Irish regulatorswilling to sit around for two-and-a-half years waiting for a reply toa letter they sent to the Anglo IrishBank expressing concerns aboutits meteoric (and unsustainable)growth? “Why did UK regulators givethe Northern Rock bank a blueribbon for risk management, andallow it to increase dividends justthree months before it failed?” The authors identify a numberof issues as key factors in thefailure of regulation – including:• political interference;• lack of separation between the

regulators and the regulated;• inadequate access to accurate

information and the absenceof necessary expertise to assessit; and

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NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOA

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NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOASHORT CUTS

Regulators in needof regulation

Who guards theguardians?

Above: Ben Bernanke,Chair of the US FederalReserve Bank since 2006(Photo: AP/Itsuo Inouye).

Guardians of Finance, anew book by JamesBarth, Gerard Caprio andRoss Levine.


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• lack of the necessary clout tobe taken seriously in both thefinancial and political arenas.

All of these factors have beenclearly visible in the emergenceof the banking crisis in Ireland. In a very telling example, theauthors demonstrate how far theFederal Reserve Bank has gone inthe past to obstruct public accessto information on its activities: “In May 2008, BloombergNews filed a Freedom of Infor-mation Act request for Fed doc-uments on its lending to banks.The Fed said it would respond inJune, but did not. BloombergNews sued, and in August 2009,a federal court ruled that the Fedmust release the documents. TheFed appealed, and in March 2010,an appellate panel unanimouslysided with the lower court. “At that point, the Senatecalled on the Federal Reserve toidentify the banks and otherfinancial institutions that receivedloans. The Supreme Court even-tually ordered the Fed to comply.The Fed then released the thou-sands of documents in a non-searchable PDF form, making itdifficult for the public or thepress to examine them.” The close relationship betweenregulators and those they regu-late has been well highlighted inmany parts of the world – lead-ing to a situation where thefinancial sector effectively deter-mines the degree of regulation itis prepared to accept. The authors add that: “regu-lators are very aware that theycan raise their salaries by a factorof ten by moving to privatefirms. But the industry’s role iseven more direct, influencingregulators by selecting them. For

example, the banks regulatedby the (US) Fed have a strongvoice in choosing the executivesrunning the 12 regional FederalReserve banks.” This unhealthy closenessbetween the regulators and theregulated is also reflected in the“revolving door” through whichpersonnel move quickly betweenkey regulatory bodies and majorfinancial institutions. To illustrate the point, the triohighlight the members of the USTreasury team which supervisedthe US Government’s key bankingbail-out initiative – the TroubledAsset Relief Program (TARP) –afterthe collapse of Lehmann Brothers. “Treasury’s former chief ofstaff, deputy assistant for finan-cial institution policy, associatesecretary for financial institutionpolicy, undersecretary of domesticfinance, adviser to the secretaryon the financial crisis, assistantsecretary for international affairs,undersecretary for internationalaffairs and associate secretary forlegislative affairs have all movedto the financial institutions overwhich they had just been shap-ing national policies.”

Casting doubt on the capacityof recent legislative measuresin the US to prevent a recurrenceof the current crisis, the authorsnote that none of the currentinstitutions have the necessaryindependence, effective powersor appropriate mandate to ensureproper regulation. Noting the general tendencyof most regulatory regimes to tryto cover up past mistakes, theauthors complain that regulatorshave consistently “created andmaintained policies that increasedthe fragility of the financial system.”

The solution, according tothe three, is the creation of anew body which they call theSentinel with the appropriateknowledge and competence toscrutinise the activities of theregulators by providing “expert,independent assessments offinancial regulation.” According to the authors, thisbody should be empowered toaccess any information necessaryto assess the quality and effec-tiveness of financial regulation,and should then be requiredto report each year to Govern-ment on the soundness of banks,insurance companies, securitiesfirms and ratings agencies. The senior staff of this superagency should, say the trio,include economists and forensicaccountants –who would be wellpaid and, more significantly, con-tractually prevented from takingup employment in the financialservices sector for at least fiveyears after leaving these jobs. The authors suggest that,while the mere existence of thisoversight body should encourageregulators to perform at a higherlevel, the Sentinel would also havea major impact by highlightingemerging problems: “What would have happenedhad a Sentinel highlighted theFBI’s 2004 fraud report in mort-gage finance, and the lack ofresponse from the Fed?… “What would have happenedif an Irish Sentinel had highlightedthe dangers to the national bank-ing system in giving out mortgageswith virtually no down payments– mortgages that sometimesexceeded borrowers’ incomestenfold?”

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The Republic’s formerFinancial Regulator, PatrickNeary, in happier times –less than six monthsbefore the Irish Govern-ment introduced thebank guarantee for thesix domestic institutions(Photo: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall-Ireland).


Deputy Governor of theRepublic’s Central Bank,and Head of FinancialRegulation, MatthewElderfield (Photo: JamesHoran/Photocall-Ireland).

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SHORT CUTS NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS INSIDE

The resignation letter of GoldmanSachs executive, Greg Smith, notonly provided further damning con-demnation of some of the WallStreet giant’s less than wholesomebusiness practices: it also wiped over$2billion off the investment bank’sshare value in one day. Published in the NewYork Times, Smith’s letterblew the whistle on for-mer colleagues –accusingthem of taking pleasure inripping off their clientswhom they openly de-scribed as “Muppets.” Memorably describedby Rolling Stone colum-nist, Matt Taibbi, as “agreat vampire squid wrapped around theface of humanity, relentlessly jamming itsblood funnel into anything thatsmells like money,” the world'smost powerful investment bank isonce again in the spotlight for allthe wrong reasons – just when itssenior executives were hoping thepublic had begun to forget theirdisastrous performance at the2010 hearings of Senator CarlLevin’s Permanent Subcommitteeon Investigations.

Smith’s letter appears to confirm the LevinCommittee’s charge that Goldman routinelyexploits its own clients by encouraging themto buy financial products it considers to besubstandard. Smith describes the Goldmanmantra, as follows:

Execute on the firm’s "axes," whichis Goldman-speak for persuadingyour clients to invest in the stocks orother products that we are trying toget rid of because they are not seenas having a lot of potential profit.

Smith also describes how Goldman executivesmocked their own clients as dupes:

It makes me ill how callously peopletalk about ripping their clients off.Over the last 12 months I have seenfive different managing directors referto their own clients as "muppets,"sometimes over internal e-mail.

“Muppet” chargeproves costly forGoldman Sachs

G-old boys

Resigned to their fateGreg Smith’s resignation letter inspired a number ofpranksters to produce their own fictitious resignations. It also inspired a spoof response in the name ofGoldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankfein –which regrettedhaving employed someone with a “conscience, idealsand high moral standards,”despite scouring theworld “for the finest sociopaths money will buy.”

Greg Smith

Mario Draghi: From Goldman toPresident of European Central Bank

Hank Paulson: Ex-Goldman CEOand US Treasury Secretary under Bush

Malcolm Turnbull: from chair ofGS Australia to Leader of Opposition

Chris Flowers: From GS to Headof private equity firm, JC Flowers

Peter Sutherland: From EUCommission to chair of GS International

Jon Corzine: From GS CEO to NewJersey Governor and MT Global chief

Karel van Miert: From EUCommission to GS adviser


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WORKPLACE LIFESTYLE ARTS & LEISUREIBOA

Although Greg Smith’s letter has caused somereputational damage to Goldman Sachs, itremains to be seen how permanent it will be. Despite being accused of playing amajor role in creating the eurozone crisis byhelping Greece disguise major problems inpublic finances so that it could join theeuro in the first place, Goldman Sachs hasmade the most of the crisis in Europe –withmany Governments, including Ireland,engaging the investment bank to provideadvice on how to deal with the fall-outfrom the economic meltdown since 2008. Not only has Goldman Sachs becomethe “go-to” consultancy for many Europeangovernments, but many “Goldmanites” nowoccupy key positions in Europe. The new head of the European CentralBank, Mario Draghi, is a former Goldmansenior executive – while the newly installedPrime Minister of Italy, the “technocrat” MarioMonti, was a senior adviser with Goldman.

Even Goldman’s previous track record inGreece did not hinder the career prospectsof its old boys. The head of Greece’s debtmanagement agency, Petros Christodoulou,worked for Goldman in the UK and Canadafrom 1987 – while Lucas Papademos, theformer head of the Central Bank who workedclosely with Goldman to mask Greece’s realdeficit in order to join the euro, is now the“technocrat” Premier – installed to replacea democractically elected leader. Goldman Sachs has also cultivated a slewof retired EU Commissioners including formerCommission President, Romano Prodi, as wellas Peter Sutherland and Karel van Miert. In America, of course, the “vampiresquid” has been accused of operating avirtual “revolving door” into influentialpositions in successive US administrations –both Republican and Democrat – as well askey regulatory bodies and even some ofGoldman’s rivals.

G-old boys

‘Vampire squid’ goes globalExtending its tentacles far and wide

John Thain: From GS President toNYSE, Merrill-Lynch and CIT Group

Romano Prodi: From EUCommission to GS adviser

Olusegun Ananga: From GS toNigeria’s Finance and Trade Ministries

David Went: Ex-CEO of UlsterBank and IL&P to GS board

Otmar Issing: From GS to Bundes-bank board & ECB chief economist

William C. Dudley: From GS chiefeconomist to NY Federal Reserve boss

Mario Monti: from EU Commissionto GS adviser and Italy’s Premier

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SHORT CUTS NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS INSIDE

And then there is Ryanair’slegendary approach to “man-power” issues – which involveshiring large numbers of contractworkers; charging pilots to trainto fly new planes; and chargingcabin crew for their uniforms. In the public mind, the mean-spirited elements of Ryanair’sbusiness practice have becomeclosely associated with O’Leary’sown personality. Like the “mollycule” theoryin The Third Policeman by FlannO’Brien, it is sometimes hard towork out where Ryanair beginsand O’Leary ends. Well, probably at least 50 milesaway from where you expected! While Ryanair often likes topresent itself as a maverick under-dog that succeeded against theestablished national carriers byextending opportunities for airtravel to ordinary consumers, thereality is somewhat different.

State support vital for successAt an early stage Ryanair receiveda crucial leg-up from the estab-lishment when the late SéamusBrennan, as Minister for Transport,

O’Leary in hisown wordsOn threats to thebusiness: Nuclear warin Europe, a majoraccident or believingour own bullshit.

On adding charges:At the moment the ice isfree – but if we couldfind a way of targettinga price on it, we would.

On the environment:The best thing we can dowith environmentalists isshoot them. These head-bangers want to makeair travel the preserve ofthe rich.

On fatherhood: I’mtaking the Ryanairapproach to it – sub-contracting everything.

This has undoubtedly madeO’Leary an international celebrityand provided many columninches of copy for journaliststhroughout Europe. But, on thedownside, it has also madeO’Leary and his company thebutt of jokes and ridicule by co-medians. It also rankles with con-sumers when they discover thatwhat begins as a low fare istransformed into something lessthan a bargain when variousadditional charges are added.

Cheap but not so cheerful!The Ryanair business model isbased on customer uniformity.This has resulted in an apparentlack of tolerance for passengerswho may have special needs –like a disability or an allergy – oreven luggage! As far as Ryanair is con-cerned, an ideal passenger is onewho has little or no luggage andmakes few demands other thanto spend heavily while on board– including, if rumours are to bebelieved, more than a penny touse the loo!

decided to hand over Aer Lingus’sroutes into Stansted as a cruciallifeline to a struggling Ryanair. Even though some argued atthe time that the Minister’s actionamounted to the State bailingout a failing private airline, thisact of kindness was quickly air-brushed from the O’Leary mythas the resuscitated Ryanair begana relentless campaign of negativepropaganda against Aer Rianta,Aer Lingus, the regulator andsuccessive Transport Ministersfor failing to bend over evenfurther to facilitate the onwardand upward march of Ryanair.

Cuckoo in the nestLike a cuckoo in the nest, Ryanairalso demanded increasingly morefavourable terms from aircraftmanufacturers and from airportauthorities around Europe. And when the EuropeanUnion intervened to declare thatRyanair’s attempts to pressuriseregional governments in thisway amounted to a distortion offair trade, O’Leary railed againstthe faceless bureaucrats.

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O’Leary for Taoiseach?

With politicians from the established partiesin the Republic seemingly powerless toinfluence the unrelenting tide of difficulties facingthe Irish economy as a result of the global financialmeltdown and the eurozone crisis, some com-mentators have suggested that Ireland needs tolook outside the traditional parties for a new kindof leader who will stand up to the Troika and facedown Merkozy. On these occasions where this kind of idlespeculation has been indulged, the name of RyanairChief Executive, Michael O’Leary, has often beenmentioned. But where some see a dynamic, no-nonsense,in-your-face and confident business leader, others seea boorish, deceitful, tactless and self-obsessed bully. These extreme reactions to the Ryanair boss arelargely of O’Leary’s own making – because he haspersonally courted publicity in order to promote thebusiness – either through “whacky” photo opport–unities or calculatedly provocative sound bites.

Too much baggageto handle!


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Faceless, maybe – but intimid-ated they were not. And despiteall O’Leary’s rhetoric, the Euro-crats did not bat an eyelid! Another element of themyth of O’Leary is that he wasthe genius who created the lowfares model in aviation – and thathis resistance to trade unionswas essential to keep fares low. While there are many whoagree that he developed a lowpaymodel, the low fare conceptwas pioneered by South WestAirlines in the US – which hasmanaged to combine low faresfor passengers with decent payand conditions for a largelyunionised workforce.

Low fares based on low payO’Leary’s “genius” was to adaptthe South West approach byreducing the level of benefitsto employees so as to increasethe dividend for his shareholders–prominent among whom is Ryan-air Chairman, David Bonderman –a founding partner of TPG (TexasPacific Group) Capital with anestimated personal net worth ofabout $2 billion, according to lastyear’s Forbes 400 list. Of course, now that Ryanairhas become one of the dominantplayers in European aviation, itcan no longer present itselfas the plucky “little guy” takingon the big battalions: it is nowone of the pillars of the aviationestablishment and set to bechallenged by the new kids onthe block. If it could pick up Aer Lingusat a knockdown price from an IrishGovernment now so strapped forcash that it might sell its goldenshare in the national carrier,Ryanair’s position would be greatlystrengthened. Otherwise it mayneed a lot of good will as well asa slice of good fortune to getthrough this latest challenge.

Burning bridgesIt remains to be seen whetherO’Leary’s style – hard-ball at best,bullying at worst – has burnt toomany bridges to secure the goodwill Ryanair may now need if it isto continues to prosper. In such an eventuality, themaster of Gigginstown Housemay have some free time on hishands. But as for Taoiseach? Thatwould be a burnt bridge too far!

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Workers in Australia are sufferingfrom an ‘unrecognised epidemic’of tiredness, according to a newstudy, with working parentsparticularly badly affected. The working week should becapped at 38 hours, includingovertime, to help avoid harmcaused by sleep deprivation, theresearchers recommend. University of South Australiapsychologists, Natalie Skinnerand Jill Dorian, surveyed about970 workers and self-employedbusiness people about theirwork and sleep habits, moods,and access to leave. About 30% reported feelingfatigued often, saying they were“extremely tired” or “completelyexhausted.” A similar proportion never orrarely had seven hours sleep anight. However, this rose to 40%in the case of parents of depend-ent children.

The respondents to thesurvey highlighted a numberof examples of work-relatedincidents that were affectednegatively by tiredness. The researchers say that thesework and sleep habits“ are likelyto place significant strain onworkers’ capacity to be effectiveand engaged workers, parents,partners, friends and communitymembers.” “Our findings suggest thatworking 45-plus hours signifi-cantly increases the risk of nega-tive outcomes for fatigue andsleep deprivation. These out-comes, in turn, are associatedwith reduced productivity, com-munity and workplace safety. “Therefore, it is recommendedthat an upper limit be set for‘reasonable’ hours no longer than38 weekly hours, even takinginto account operational needsof the workplace or enterprise.”

The purpose behind Workers'Memorial Day has always beento “remember the dead: fightfor the living” and unions areasked to focus on both areas, byconsidering events or memorialto remember all those killedthrough work but at the sametime ensuring that such tragediesare not repeated. Workers’ Memorial Day isofficially recognised by the UKGovernment. Make sure that something isorganised in your area, whethera vigil, meeting or just a minute’ssilence in your workplace.

OBSERVEWORKERS’MEMORIALDAY APRIL 28

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SHORT CUTS NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS INSIDESHORT CUTS NEWS REVIEW SAFETY FOCUS

Excessive hours and insufficientsleep is major health risk

Too tired towork safely Remember dead:

fight for livingEvery year more people are killed at work than inwars. Most do not die of mystery ailments, or intragic “accidents.” They die because an employerdecided their safety just wasn't that important apriority. Workers’ Memorial Day commemoratesthose workers. Workers’ Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year,all over the world workers and their representatives con-duct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host ofother activities to mark the day.


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It’s your rightto work insafety andsecurity!The IBOA Safety, Health, Welfareand Security (SHWS) Committeeaims to work with members andemployers to create healthier,safer working environments foreveryone. IBOA has produced guide-lines on your rights under healthand safety legislation in theRepublic and Northern Ireland These can be accessed onthe IBOA websites by followingthese links:• www.iboa.ie/knowyourrights/yourrightsroi/healthsafety.htmlfor the Republic of Ireland; and• www.iboa.org.uk/knowyourrights/yourrightsni.html forNorthern Ireland. If you have any questions orconcerns about health, safetyor security in your workplace,please contact a member of yourlocal health and safety committeein the first instance. If there is no health and safetycommittee in your workplace,please contact a member ofthe IBOA National Committeebelow: Elaine Barker (BOI), CarmelCurran (FTB), Margaret Power(BOI-GB), Stephen Kennedy(BOI), Etain Ryan Lyons (AIB),Jaynette Stirling (Ulster NI),Robert Thompson (Northern/Danske) and Kate Varley (AIB). You can contact all of theseby e-mail at [email protected] or byphone at 00-353-(0)1-4755908or 00-44-(0)2890-200130.

A study involving tens of thousands ofcivil servants in Northern Ireland foundthat one in four workers experiencedwork-related stress during an economicdownturn. The study by researchers at the Univer-sity of Ulster and the University of Notting-ham –which was published in the scientificjournal, Occupational Medicine, recentlyfound that work-related stress increasedby 40% in times of recession. It also found that the number ofemployees taking time off due to job stressrose by 25% and total time off due tothese types of psychological problemsincreased by more than one third duringthe downturn.

Lead researcher, Jonathan Houdmont,observed that national economic crises canhave substantial implications for workers’health and organisational performance. “The findings suggest that those busi-nesses which seek to reduce work-relatedstress during austere economic times arelikely to experience lower staff absenceand greater productivity,” he said.

The recession is adding significantlyto the incidence of work-relatedstress in Northern Ireland – leading tomore employees taking time off, ac-cording to new research.

Rise in stress-related illness caused byrecession – study

Re-stress-ion takestoll in N. Ireland

The Physio Company is a growing chartered physiotherapy company with21 clinics already in operation across Cork, Waterford, Galway & Dublin.On production of their Union card, IBOA members are entitled to:• E10 discount on treatment charges• Preferred Appointment Times• Free 15 minute Assessment

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RBS BONUS ROWUnion highlights lavish rewardsfor RBS executives while staffin its Ulster Bank subsidiary facemore job cuts.

See Page 30

PRESIDENTGUEST AT ICTUWOMEN’SCONFERENCEPresident of Ireland, Michael D.Higgins, was the keynote speakerat the ICTU Women’s Conferencein Belfast’s Waterfront Hall recently.

See Page 36

iboadirect

Never doubt thata small group ofthoughtful, com-mitted, citizenscan change theworld. Indeed, itis the only thingthat ever has.

Margaret Mead

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUEIBOA’s training facility is now fully approved by the Further Educationand Training Awards Council (FETAC) as a provider of accredited train-ing courses.

See Page 32

UNION HISTORYPUBLISHED

The history of the Irish BankOfficials’ Association by PaulCullen and Mark Duncan waspublished recently.

See Page 33

MAINSTREAMINGEQUALITY

IBOA develops new equalitytraining for Union activists inco-operation with two otherunions – CWU and Mandate.

See Page 34

FIRST CLASSIN ITThe first group of students havecompleted the IBOA’s computerskills course in Belfast – run inassociation with the Union Learn-ing Fund of Northern Ireland.

See Page 35


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IBOA District Secretariesfrom the Republic ofIreland, Northern Ireland andBritain will meet in Galway inMay to consider the Union’sstrategic response to thelatest developments in thefinancial services sector. While a primary concern fordelegates will be the impact ofthe continuing loss of jobs withinIrish banking in response tothe financial crisis, this will becompounded by further con-cerns about new operationalpractices and structures that arelikely to be pushed by manage-ment on the back of this majorreconfiguration of the Irish bank-ing landscape. “Our members are facing themost unprecedented challengesin the history of the Irish financialservices sector,” said Union Gen-eral Secretary, Larry Broderick. “While the Union has beenadept in minimising and delay-ing the impact of the financialcrisis so far, we are now enteringa critical period which could re-sult in a major transformation ofbanking as we have known it.

Crunch conference “Our task will be to try toinfluence these developmentsin whatever way we can to pro-tect jobs, working conditionsand living standards which areexperiencing unprecedentedpressure right across the financialservices sector,” said the GeneralSecretary.

The Union’s BankDistrict Secretaries’Conference takesplace in the ClaytonHotel in Galway onMay 17 and 18.

ACTIVISTS IN ACTION

Sweet deals Sweet deals from IBOAfrom IBOA

For the latest news on special offers

and discounts for IBOA members,

check out the Union websites:

www.iboa.ie/my/services or

www.iboa.co.uk/my/services

“This is an extremely demand-ing situation,” added the Union’sPresident, Jessie Doherty, “thatrequires a firm but flexible re-sponse from the Union at alllevels and in every workplace toensure that our collective strengthis deployed to the best possibleeffect in the interests of all ourmembers throughout the finan-cial services sector.” “We have to strike a balancebetween protecting our mem-bers terms and conditions ofemployment during a period ofmajor contraction in the sector. Itis situation none of us wish to bein – but we have to find a waythrough,” she added. The Conference will includepresentations on new develop-ments already under way withinIBOA in the areas of training andcommunications. Delegates will also have anopportunity to learn from theexperiences of guest speakers,including Alan Tate, from the UNIGlobal Union Federation, whowill offer practical insights intohow to maintain and evenenhance union strength in timesof adversity.

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The recent announcementthat senior executives in RBSare to receive substantialbonus payments is addinginsult to injury as far as staffin its Irish subsidiary, UlsterBank, is concerned. “These announcements aremore than a little rich,” saidIBOA General Secretary, LarryBroderick, “when you considerthat Ulster Bank announced itsintention in January to reduce itsstaffing levels by a further 950on top of the 1,000 jobs lost in2009.” Even though RBS is 82%owned by the British State, therewards for its senior executivesare incredibly generous,” saidthe IBOA leader. Even though the public out-cry forced the RBS Chief Execu-tive, Stephen Hester, to foregoone of his performance-relatedpayments for 2012, he and hisexecutive colleagues have stillsecured substantial bonus awardsfrom the RBS board. “If the senior executives’performances were assessedaccording to the kind of criteriaapplied to our members in UlsterBank, there is no way they wouldhave been given these awards,”said Mr. Broderick.

SPECTRUM april 2012

It’s a bit rich!

“In RBS’s key performanceindicators, they have ‘fallenshort.’ The RBS share price hasbeen more than halved in thelast year – while the Bank hasalso failed to meet the targets forlending to small firms set by theBritish Government. "These lavish rewards for thesenior executives in RBS – are insharp contrast to the Bank'streatment of its Ulster Bankemployees –who have been toldthat the Bank does not intendto match the terms of its 2009redundancy deal in the newrestructuring programme it isnow seeking to introduce in Ire-land. “Mr. Hester's ultimate boss -the British Prime Minister, DavidCameron – is very fond of re-minding the citizens of theUnited Kingdom that ‘they are allin it together.’ It is clear that, toparaphrase George Orwell, someare more in it than others,"added the IBOA leader.

IBOA GeneralSecretary, LarryBroderick (above)and RBS GroupChief ExecutiveOfficer, StephenHester (below).

Seniorexecutivesin RBS havefallen shortand do notmerit lavishbonuspayments.

NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOANEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOA

Bonuses for RBS execs – redundancies for Ulster staffThe members of the family of thelate Kerry Christie, who passedaway last June while serving onthe Union’s Executive Committee,have sent the following messageto Spectrum so that we canconvey their thanks for thesupport they have received fromIBOA members and Ulster Bankstaff:

Olivia, Amy and I would like tothank the IBOA members andthe Ulster Bank staff for theirkind thoughts and supportthrough this difficult time. Your generosity has beenoverwhelming and it is lovely toknow that all the money raisedwill go to help so many people. In addition to this, we arehonoured to have had a meetingroom in the Bankers’ Club inBelfast named after Kerry. It onlyemphasises how well thought ofshe was by the IBOA and itsmembers.

Kind regards,Stephen Christie

In response to this touchingexpression of the Christie family’sgratitude, the Union and itsmembers are honoured to havecounted Kerry among our mostcommitted activists – an ardentdefender of her fellow workersin Ulster Bank and the RBS Group.We thank you, Stephen, Olivia andAmy for sharing such a remark-able person with us.

The late Kerry Christie

Thank youfor Kerry


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WORK AGENDA LIFE & STYLE ARTS & LEISURENEWSNEWS

THE IRISH BANKERS’ CLUBIBOA HOUSE, STEPHEN STREET UPPER, DUBLIN 8Telephone: 01-4758970 10am-12noon or after 5pm (Tuesday-Saturday).

CLUB OPENING HOURS:Tuesday-Saturday: 4.30pmuntil late.Sunday-Monday: closed.

Friday April 27:1st Prize – Two weeks holiday

for two to Costa Dorada

Friday May 24: Two weeks holidayfor two to Lake Garda

Friday June 29:1st Prize – Two weeks holiday

for two to Zakynthos

Friday July 27:1st Prize – Two weeks holiday

for two to PortugalEach monthly draw also offers

2nd Prize: E300, 3rd Prize: E250,4th Prize: 2400.

All Draws at 9pm. Bar Food Each Draw Nightfrom 5pm-10pm plus Big Attendance Prizes

UPCOMING CLUBDRAW NIGHTS

Results of recent Bankers’ Club drawsare posted on the IBOA websites:www.iboa.ie/services/sportsandsocial/bankersclub.htmlwww.iboa.org.uk/services/

sportsandsocial/bankersclub.html

EURO 2012 FOOTBALLCHAMPIONSHIPS

All Games Live on the Big Screenincluding

June 10: Ireland v. Croatia (19.45)June 14: Ireland v. Spain (19.45)June 18: Ireland v. Italy (19.45)

Bar food will be served

Magnificent Holiday Destinations including China, West Coast USA,London Olympics, Seychelles and Dubai •

Great Cash Prizes with 2 Grand Draw Months and Bumper Christmas Draw

See Draw Application Forms included with this issue of Spectrum.

Launching:THE 26th BANKERS’ CLUB DRAW

New members welcome –Cost only E20 per annum!

Facilities include: • Special room hire rates• Bar and meeting room facilities.• Catering and DJ facilities available• Big screen for all sporting occasions• Full bar licence – extensions available

For more information, please contactMichael Martin, Honorary Secretary, IrishBankers’ Club at the address above.

CLUBMEMBERSHIP

All IBOA members, Club members and their friends or family memberscan book the Irish Bankers Club for a party or special function for just E100

during April, May, June, July and AugustDON’T MISS OUT – BOOK TODAY

Club BookingsSPECIAL OFFER FOR 2011

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IBOA trainingreaches newlevelUnion secures FETAC accreditationfor representative training courses

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NEWS REVIEW SPECIAL FOCUS IBOA

SPECSAPPEALFORIBOAMEMBERS

E30 off glasses from the E149 range or abovein the Irish Republic

£20 off glasses from the £99 range or above inGreat Britain and Northern Ireland

To receive your SpecSavers discount voucher,call 0(0-353-)1-4755908 or 0(0-44-)2890-200130.

IBOA has been approvedby the Republic’s FurtherEducation Training AwardsCouncil as a provider ofaccredited education andtraining courses. The first course likely tosecure FETAC accreditation is athree-day Union RepresentativeSkills programme which is beingdeveloped through the pilotstages and external review witha view to securing full validation.A comprehensive training man-ual to accompany the new pro-gramme is also in preparation. Although this programmeis being designed to meetthe standards required for full

accreditation by FETAC, the courseformat is being developed in amodular fashion so that the firstday of the course can be usedon a stand-alone element basicto provide basic training for IBOARepresentatives. The new designation ofIBOA’s training service as a FETACapproved Training Centre has

been achieved after a lengthyapplication process – in whichthe Union was required to developand implement detailed policiesand quality assurance pro-cedures as well as participatingin a number of extensive briefingsessions to ensure that theappropriate FETAC standardswould be reached and main-tained.

Training BenchmarkedThe Union’s Senior IndustrialRelations and Training Officer,Marian Geoghegan, said IBOA’srelationship with FETAC wouldbe key to the future develop-ment of the Union’s trainingservice for members. “By securing FETAC accredi-tation, we are guaranteeing thequality of the training we provideby benchmarking it against arecognised educational qualifica-tion. This will add value to ourmembers’ efforts – especiallyif they want to pursue furthereducational opportunities at alater date,” she said. “Our aim now is to securesimilar accreditation in NorthernIreland and Great Britain – toprovide assurances to our mem-bers in these jurisdictions as tothe credibility of our training pro-vision for them.”

Approved: FETACBoard member, JohnMulcahy (centre) presentsthe certificate of approvalto Marian Geoghegan,IBOA’s Senior IndustrialRelations and TrainingOfficer (right) and JaneHiggins, AdministrationManager, IBOA (left).


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Handling Change, the history of IBOA, has justbeen published by the Collins Press. Produced by Paul Rouse and Mark Duncan, thebook was specially commissioned by the Unionto mark the renaming of the Irish Bank Officials’Association as IBOA The Finance Union. The evolution of the IBOA offers a fascinating pictureof Ireland – not least of how banking moved from athoroughly conservative industry to one so reckless as tobankrupt the Irish stat

Alegría - Financial Services Union · • Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría • The Little Big Club...

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Transcript of Alegría - Financial Services Union · • Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría • The Little Big Club...