AIB acts to prevent fraud

TO THE sound of stable doors shutting, Allied Irish Banks and its US arm Allfirst signed an agreement on how to stop treasury fraud - following the £691m losses from rogue trader John Rusnak.

The deal with AIB's watchdog, the Irish Central Bank and the banking regulators of Maryland and Virginia, requires a report from AIB within 10 days. It must keep the consultants it hired to probe the losses and it must also recruit even more advisers. These will issue reports on management structure, risk management, internal controls, auditing and trading controls.

Rival Bank of Ireland, which is fortunately still allowed to focus on making money, lifted 2001 pre-tax profits 15% to £575m and dividends 14% to 20.6p. It is buying US fund manager Iridian for up to £137m.