AIB ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT RESHUFFLE - AIB has announced some management changes aimed at rebuilding the bank's credit and risk infrastructure. In a memo to staff yesterday, the bank's group managing director Colm Doherty said that the bank is first and foremost a 'credit institution'. He said the challenge of ensuring that an appropriate credit culture is redeveloped is an 'absolute priority' for him. The bank said it has appointed Joe O'Connor, currently chief credit officer at AIB Capital Markets to the new position of Group Chief Credit Officer. He will also join the Group Executive Committee and will be responsible for credit underwriting, credit risk policy and strategy, best practice and standards. Maeliosa O hOgartaigh has been appointed to the new role as head of Corporate Development and Government Relations and will lead the implementation and ongoing interaction with NAMA, the bank's EU restructuring talks and all Government relationships. There are other appointments, including Jerry McCrohan, who is currently head of corporate banking who takes over Colm Doherty's old job in charge of capital markets.
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PENSION FUNDS SEE VOLATILE START TO 2010 - If you contribute to a pension scheme you will have benefited from a strong stock market rally in 2009. But there is a good chance that it has been sliding again during the first month of 2010. The average managed pension fund return was about -1.1%. A number of concerns hit markets last month, with the impact of fiscal tightening in China, sovereign debt worries in Greece and news of new banks policy in the US.
Noel Collins, a senior consultant with pension consultants Mercer, says that the volatility seen in January might well set the scene for 2010, which looks like being a very uncertain year as the global economy attempts to sustain the growth recovery started off last year. He says that in such an environment, effective governance and decision-making will be of key importance for pension fund trustees and decision makers
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MORNING BRIEFS - One of the biggest shares in the Irish Stock exchange, DCC, has improved its full year outlook from its previous guidance. In an interim management statement, it said that trading in January was 'excellent', driven by the unusually cold weather conditions which boosted its DCC Energy division and a good performance in SerCom Distribution. DCC says it now expects both operating profit and adjusted earnings per share - on a constant currency basis - for the year to March 2010 will be between 5-10% ahead of the previous year.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.3944 US cents and 87.37 pence sterling.
