Sir, – "Irish bank chiefs at lower end of pay scale among European peers", an Irish Times headline of December 5th tells us.
Well maybe there’s a reason.
Perhaps the other European bankers haven’t the same heady history of incompetence and chicanery that we associate with Irish banks in recent decades.
Perhaps also they have to work harder. Here we have the highest loan rates in Europe hand in hand with the lowest deposit rates. After that it seems the main part of the job involves evicting families from their homes, closing branches, and flogging non-performing loans to the nearest hovering vulture at a hefty discount.
And, to cap it all, Irish banks are overseen by a docile regulatory authority that seems to reckon that the only way to discipline bankers is to penalise the unfortunate bank shareholders.
The lower end of the pay scale seems to me to be wholly appropriate.
And as for the reintroduction of a bonus scheme, forget it. These schemes invariably reward the wrong behaviour, as we saw in the lead-up to the last bank-inspired financial Armageddon. – Yours, etc,
BILL POWER,
Tramore,
Co Waterford.