Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Donal Forde:
There was a number of discussions, not ... I don't recall specific ... well, I don't recall specific discussions with the CEOs, but I recall discussions at our group executive forum and I recall a number of discussions at the board where there would be considerable discussion about the weight of our property-construction lending, and I suppose particularly a fact that it was - again, I saw reference in the documents - it was in breach of some of the guidelines from the regulator. And there was a number of board discussions to specifically address that point - were we comfortable with what we were doing in property-construction? I actually recall ... I think when that stress test in 2007 was presented to the board, that was in response, I think, to a specific request from the regulator that the board would validate and confirm its comfort with AIB's property and construction exposure. And I ... the board's response to that was to ask the risk function to do that evaluation that you've seen there and that stress test. And the output of that - mistaken, I now accept - I think left them with a false sense of security and a false sense of comfort. So, yes. I've answered that in a long-winded way. There was discussion. I wouldn't say there was concern, but the scale of our property and construction exposure featured frequently, but each time the board got to a point of comfort with it and we continued.
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