Francesca McDonagh BOI
FROM: England AGE: 42
TENURE: Took over as chief executive on Oct 2, 2017
SALARY: According to Ulster Bank, Ms McDonagh’s salary ‘will be in line with her predecessor’. Richie Boucher, who stepped down as chief executive earlier this month, received a total package of €958,000 last year.
Ms McDonagh lives in one of the most salubrious locations in leafy Dublin 4 – on a road where houses often sell for €1 million or more.
BACKGROUND: Ms McDonagh’s paternal grandfather comes from the village of Carraroe in Co Galway and her paternal grandmother hails from Dublin.
She joined banking giant HSBC on a graduate trainee programme two decades ago. She has spoken about being shocked at finding herself as the only woman in the room in the world of finance. WHAT DID BOI DO ON TRACKERS? Ireland’s most famous bank has been one of the worst on this issue.
The Central Bank has launched an ‘enforcement investigation’ – a hard-hitting inquiry which could lead to fines against BoI, and redress payments are lagging far behind most other banks. BoI says it has has identified 602 customers who were refused their entitlement to a tracker mortgage, but this figure may rise as its review is ‘ongoing’. The bank is also dealing with 3,654 tracker-rate customers who had been overcharged by an average of 0.15%. While head of the bank’s retail division in the Republic, Liam McLoughlin, told the finance committee last month that effected customers have been put back on the right rate, redress and compensation will only begin ‘over the coming months’, according to a company spokeswoman.
BOI has set aside €25 million of provisions to deal with the issue. The bank has known of problems in its tracker portfolio since at least 2010, when it was forced to put 5,100 customers who were on the wrong rate on the correct one. MS MCDONAGH’S RESPONSE TO QUERIES: What message do you have for the Irish public ahead of your meeting with Minister Donohoe next week? No comment provided. Would you like to apologise for the conduct of your bank on this issue? No comment provided. However a spokesperson for the bank said: ‘Having placed customers back on the correct rate, Bank of Ireland is now focused on making things right for any impacted customer and the redress and compensation process will commence over the coming weeks. The Bank has sincerely apologised to all customers impacted in relation to the tracker mortgage issue.’