RTÉ News has learned that up to nine or ten top managers at AIB are facing the prospect of disciplinary action as a result of the inquiry into the foreign exchange overcharging revealed earlier this year.
It is understood that the mangers, including a number of the bank's senior executives, were given until last Monday week to respond to a letter outlining the findings of the report in relation to each of their actions.
In May of this year AIB confirmed it had been overcharging thousands of its customers on foreign exchange transactions going back over a number of years.
At the time the bank blamed a computer error, but RTE had been told by a reliable source that senior managers within AIB had known about the problem and began trying to correct the error earlier this year without informing the financial regulator.
Initially the bank said customers were overcharged to the tune of around €14m.
In conjunction with the financial regulator, IFSRA, the bank agreed to set up an inquiry into the overcharging, headed by the former comptroller and auditor general, Lauri McDonnell.
In their first report issued in July it was confimed that the amount of foreign exchange overcharging was far higher than initially reported, reaching almost €26.
But a second report into how the overcharging occured and who knew what and when within the bank has so far not been published.
Its contents were handed over to special disciplinary subcommittee of the main board of the bank.
RTÉ News understands that this subcommitee has written to nine or ten of the top managment in the bank telling them that as a result of the findings of the inquiry they may have a case to answer and could face the prospect of disciplinary action.
It is also understood that a number of them have replied through their legal representatives.
The Chairman of AIB, Dermot Gleeson, recently told the Oireachtas Finance Committee this had now become a highly sensitive issue for the bank and that due process had to be followed before any disciplinary action might be taken.
But it is now clear that the bank could become embroiled in a major legal wrangle with some of its own top managment over the findings of the inquiry.
