Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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129. To ask the Minister for Finance the safeguards in place to prevent a conflict of interest arising in State owned banks, where a company is hired to provide advice on the management and disposal of assets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17269/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Officials in my Department have received the following confirmation from the banks in response to the Deputy's question.

AIB:

AIB has a policy in place with regards to appointment of advisors. Advisors are selected based on their knowledge and experience in relation to the type of disposal. As part of the appointment process advisors are required to declare upfront any conflict of interest to AIB to ensure none exists.

ptsb:

The Group Procurement Team oversee the appointment of all 3^rdparty service providers. If there is a need for ptsb Group to seek external assistance, the Procurement Team will work with the business area to understand the skill requirement and identify potential service providers. A Request for a Proposal (RFP) is then issued to the 3^rdparties and they are invited to respond with a comprehensive proposal that outlines how they will address the needs of the Group. All RFPs include the Group s Conflict of Interest Policy and requires all third parties to abide by the conditions outlined within.

As part of the RFP process, the Group defines a set of criteria against which each respondent is assessed; this ensures an unbiased evaluation of all proposals received.

Group Procurement maintain a full list of service providers and a Conflict of Interest Log, both of which are reviewed on a regular basis.