Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Context Phase
Mr. Simon Carswell:
I think it was a factor but I do not know what weighting I would apply to it. It was not just builders and property developers who were getting rich. If profits were met as well as certain targets being met by bankers, they would get substantial share options and if memory serves me, bonus were paid over three years at Anglo Irish Bank. If one is looking at bonus structures now, the changes to be made is to put it over a much longer period and that would certainly make bankers more prudent in terms of having their decisions on loans being viewed over a longer period, so that if a loan goes south the person may not be paid the bonus that was agreed at the time he or she had agreed the loan.