Allied Irish Bank’s U.S. chief announces retirement

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — One of Allied Irish Bank’s most highly paid executives, Jerry Casey, the chief executive of the U.S. division, is to retire next year after 41 years service.

He gave up his position as U.S. chief executive and his seat on the AIB board on Oct. 31 and was succeeded by the president and chief executive of AIB’s U.S. subsidiary First Maryland Bancorp, Frank Bramble.

Casey, who was originally from Cork, will stay on as chairman of FMB until his retirement. He had been due to retire in February 2000, but decided to step down two months earlier.

Last year, he had a total remuneration of £1.276m. His combined fees, salary, bonuses and pension costs were only £1,000 less than the combined earnings of the other AIB executive directors.

While Casey’s remuneration increased by 9 percent, the average earnings of other AIB executives dropped by 18 percent last year.

Casey’s package was boosted by a payment of £273,000 under the bank’s

short-term incentive plan, which is based on achieving specific targets at First Maryland Bank Corp.

Another element, which added £181,000, was AIB shares given to him under the bank’s long-term incentive plan.

He had 464,750 shares in the bank, according to the 1977 annual report. These would have been worth over £4.3 million at last week’s price of £9.35.