The IFSRA report on overcharging in AIB was released yesterday and I’m sure was welcomed by the public. It provided no let-off for AIB in any way and totally placed all blame upon the group for not acting before it did. The report details that many senior management personnel knew about the overcharging for years but neglected to do anything about it. Doesn’t sound like a bank that cares about its customers. Many other people will testify anecdotal evidence of other flaws but it’s only when these things go public that people really hear about them. The Chief Executive (Michael Buckley) was on the Last Word (Today FM) last evening doing an interview with Matt Cooper. He denied all knowledge, guaranteed that nothing like this would ever happen again and vowed to put the unclaimed money from overcharging towards a “public interest” to be decided. I sincerely hope that this public interest has nothing to do with some monument or sign that gives the bank a place in history as a contributor to society, that just wouldn’t be an accurate reflection on the case at hand. In my opinion the unclaimed monies should be offset against bank charges for AIB customers for the next 12 months. Not much benefit to each customer in general but it’s the point that customers should be the one’s who benefit when they were the one’s who suffered. Not every foreign exchange customer is an AIB account holder but it’s a start towards reconciling this situation. I await the next news of mysterious goings on… More details in the Irish Times