THE FINANCIAL Regulator has fined Allied Irish Banks (AIB) €40,000 for a delay in including two individuals on an “insider list” of people who saw a trading statement from the bank before it was published in May 2009.

AIB breached a market abuse regulation that compels the bank to update regularly and promptly the list which helps prevent or detect the illegal use of information in insider trading.

Companies must maintain an insider list of individuals who have access to, or are in possession of, sensitive information on the firm.

The regulator said the breach related to “a delay of 20 days in two instances of updating the insider list relating to the release of an interim management statement by AIB on May 11th, 2009”.

AIB acknowledged the breach of the 2005 market abuse regulations and provided details of the breach to the regulator, fully co-operating with its investigation.

The regulator reached the settlement agreement with the bank last Friday, according to its statement.

Publicly-quoted financial institutions are required to maintain insider lists for up to five years and the regulator can call on banks to produce the list at any time.

The number of people on the insider list can vary depending on the size of the financial institution.

The regulator has reminded other institutions of their responsibilities in maintaining and promptly updating insider lists.

AIB issued the May 2009 statement two days before a shareholder vote on the Government’s €3.5 billion recapitalisation of the bank. In the statement, the bank raised the expected bad debt charge for 2009 to €4.3 billion, exceeding a worst-case scenario projected two months earlier.