BOWLER WELCOMES 'SHOVE' ON BANKING INDUSTRY - Last night the Dáil passed all stages of the Credit Institutions Stabilisation Bill, which gives wide powers to the Minister for Finance to reform and restructure the banking sector. It will be debated by the Seanad tomorrow. The Dáil also approved the memorandum of understanding on the EU/IMF bail-out package for Ireland, which largely came about as a result of the failure of Irish banks.
Gillian Bowler has been chairman at Irish Life and Permanent for the last six years. That group has not needed to be propped up by Government or taxpayer cash, but it has not been untarnished by some of the scandals that have rocked Irish financial institutions - namely lending Anglo Irish Bank over €7 billion to prop up its balance sheet.
Ms Bowler says that while the Credit Institutions Stabilisation Bill is draconian and widesweeping, the banking industry is stuck in limbo and if 'one big shove' can get the industry working properly again, it is a good idea. She says the bill will be hotly debated and contested but will be helpful towards restructuring and consolidation of the industry.
It emerged yesterday that the deadline for bids to buy building society EBS has been extended to January 17. Irish Life & Permanent and an investment consortium led by Dublin group Cardinal are both making offers for EBS. Ms Bowler says she believes that deadline will be pushed out further and adds that IL&P is still strongly in the running. She says the whole process is running behind schedule, and says that is one explanation for why she stayed so long as chairman of Irish Life and Permanent. She adds that she could not stick around forever.
Explaining how she survived as chairman at IL&P when so many of her peers were stepping down, or forced to step down, she says that she told the truth at the lender's AGM and was always accessible to shareholders. She denies it was a plot to keep a woman on board and says she became synonymous with Irish Life and Permanent. She says that certainty has been good for the bank, with a surge in customer accounts recently.
On the issue of bank and civil servants' bonuses, Mr Bowler says it is 'absolutely insensitive' when to many people are suffering. She is stepping down without a bonus as she is a non-executive chairman, but says that even if she was offered one she would turn it down.
On the new regulatory regime in Ireland, the IL&P chairman says that financial regulator Matthew Elderfield is 'fantastic'. Describing him as fair, approachable and with an open mind, she adds that he is very tough. She also says she has had no problems dealing with the Finance Department and says that no Finance Minister has ever faced so many problems as Brian Lenihan has had to deal with.
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MORNING BRIEFS - 115 jobs are to be created in Galway at the Goodman Medical Ireland jobs over the next five years. The positions are in manufacturing and research and development. The plant will also become the sales and marketing centre for the group across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Goodman Medical already employs 56 people in Galway who make cardiology products.
*** Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary thinks the Government's 25% stake in Aer Lingus will be one of the first State assets to be sold off as semi-state companies are put up for sale to plug the budget deficit. In an interview with today's Irish Independent he says that despite the current shape of the economy, over coming years Ireland will emerge as a much better place to do business, and he says that reforms under the IMF programme will see a lot of vested interests broken up, leading to a more open and competitive economy.
*** On the currency markets - the euro is lower after ratings agency Moody's said it could downgrade Spain's credit rating. This morning it is trading at $1.3119 cents and 84.98 pence sterling.
