Irish Nationwide Building Society chief executive Michael Fingleton was the sole beneficiary of a pension fund worth €27.6 million, according to the lender’s annual report published today.
The company said Mr Fingleton was the sole beneficiary of this defined benefit scheme and that control of this pension was transferred outside the control of the group on January 12th, 2007.
Mr Fingleton, who steps down as chief executive at the end of the month after 37 years, was paid a total of €2.4 million last year, compared with €2.3 million in 2007. The €2.4 million figure includes a €1 million bonus which Mr Fingleton has agreed to repay.
At the end of 2008 Mr Fingleton also had a loan of €1.3 million with the lender, unchanged from the previous year.
The total past service liability in the fund at that time was €27.6 million based on independent actuarial valuations.
The building society also said 64 per cent of loan loss provisions relate to its Irish commercial property portfolio.
Commercial property loans account for €2.72 billion of Irish Nationwide’s €8.2 billion- commercial property portfolio, the lender said.
The provision is equivalent to 11 per cent of the Irish commercial property book.
Irish Nationwide increased its provisions for potential losses on property loans to €446 million in 2008 from €66 million a year earlier.
The size of Irish Nationwide’s loan book shrank from €12.3 billion to €10.4 billion last year a decline attributed to the fall in the value of sterling against the euro.
Of this €8.1 billion is for commercial property loans more than half of which is on UK properties and €2.2 billion is for residential lending.
The lender said it will continue to “support borrowers where this ensures the best outcome for the Society in the medium to long-term”.
Of its €446 million provision for impaired loans, €325 million relates to commercial loans in Ireland. It said the provision of €118 million for loan losses in the UK on commercial property “reflects the relative quality of this lending and the better market conditions especially in London”.
Irish Nationwide said the Government guarantee scheme had helped to restore confidence and obtain funding in the final quarter of 2008. It said the guarantee was costing €20 million per annum.
In March 2009 Irish Nationwide pledged €1.21 billion worth of residential loans as collateral with the European Central Bank under a securitisation programme and received €800 million in funding in return.
Irish Nationwide has €2.23 billion worth of debt securities maturing this year and plans to finance the repayment of this through a reduction in its loan book, the securitisation of loans and the issue of new notes.
