ONE OF Irish Nationwide’s own board members, Danny Kitchen, had agreed to replace Michael Fingleton as chief executive of the building society but he later declined the job after the Government capped the salary for the position at €360,000 a year.
Mr Kitchen, who is currently the Irish Stock Exchange’s nominated director on the Irish Takeover Panel, became a non-executive director of Irish Nationwide last October. He has experience in both finance and property.
Mr Kitchen declined to comment. Asked whether he would accept the job if the salary was increased to the Government’s higher cap of €500,000 for senior bankers, he said: “It is what it is.”
A spokesman for Irish Nationwide said he had no comment.
A former director of IBI Corporate Finance and finance director of Green Property, Mr Kitchen recently joined the board of Cavan building materials firm Kingspan.
It was reported yesterday that a replacement chief executive, who had agreed to succeed Mr Fingleton, has told the society that he has decided not to take the job due to the Government’s salary cap.
RTÉ reported, citing “a well-placed source at Irish Nationwide”, that Mr Fingleton had sought to retire in February 2008 but was asked by the society’s board to stay on for another year, until a successor was appointed.
The source described Mr Fingleton’s replacement as “international but known in Ireland”.
It is understood that the society offered to pay him €700,000 a year and that his pay was agreed after the Government guarantee was introduced last September.
A Department of Finance spokesman declined to comment.
The Green Party increased the pressure on Mr Fingleton to resign yesterday over the payment of a €1 million bonus last November, just weeks after the Government moved to protect the Irish banks with the €440 billion guarantee.
The party also criticised Mr Fingleton’s pension arrangements through which he is the sole beneficiary of a €27.6 million pension scheme transferred out of the society to another retirement benefit scheme in January 2007.
Senator Dan Boyle, Green Party finance spokesman, said Mr Fingleton had come to personify all that was wrong with Irish banking.
“His conduct shows little care for savers and homeowners who have placed considerable faith – and in some cases placed their life’s chances and the fortunes of their families – in the care of that institution,” said Mr Boyle.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan will raise Mr Fingleton’s bonus and pension arrangements at a meeting with the board of the building society later this week.