AIB chairman Lochlann Quinn has apologised to the bank's shareholders for what he called the lapses which allowed the huge losses at its US subsidiary Allfirst to occur.
He told the bank's AGM in Belfast the past year - which included the foot and mouth scare and September 11 - had been a difficult time for AIB, but the Allfirst affair had overshadowed everything.
Mr Quinn also referred to recent media speculation about the possibility of a merger between Bank of Ireland and AIB.
He said the focus of the bank's strategy was not on merging AIB with any other company, and it was interested in competing with Bank of Ireland, not merging with it.
'We believe any such merger would be unacceptable on competition grounds and has not been and is not now on the agenda,' Mr Quinn said.
AIB yesterday issued a trading statement saying its business had begun to recover from the effects of the Allfirst affair.
Asked by shareholders today why John Rusnak had not been charged, Mr Quinn replied that he understood from the bank's US lawyers that Rusnak was cooperating fully with the FBI, which was investigating the people with whom he was trading. No charges will be brought until that process is complete.
Veteran critical shareholder Niall Murphy was removed from the meeting by security guards after taking to the podium. He returned shortly afterwards and his motion to dismiss the board members other than chairman Lochlann Quinn was defeated, as was his wife's motion to dismiss Lochlann Quinn.
The meeting lasted two hours and there were a number of questions from shareholders on issues relating to the fraud at Allfirst. Around 400 people were in attendance.
