ANGLO IRISH Bank chairman Seán Fitzpatrick was spotted popping into the Department of Finance on Monday to meet Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.

No doubt they chatted about what life will be like under the two-year bank guarantee which gives Mr Lenihan quite a say in how the banks will be run during that time.

Mr Lenihan held meetings with bank chiefs last summer to canvass them on how the domestic banking sector might cope with the international credit crisis.

The Minister has since remained in contact with the banks. However, relations with Irish Nationwide chief executive Michael Fingleton have been frosty since Mr Fingleton's son sent an e-mail touting for deposits using the guarantee.

Mr Lenihan has yet to announce his panel of directors from which the guaranteed banks must appoint one or two to their boards to "promote the public interest". The expectation is that former senior public servants and one-time government ministers will be approached to keep a watchful eye on the financial institutions.

AIB became the first bank to disclose the charge it will be paying under the guarantee, though the charges to the six Irish-owned lenders had already emerged.

Chief executive Eugene Sheehy said on Wednesday that AIB would pay €30 million in the first quarter, though the charge could be "re-calibrated" every quarter.

The department has said the annual charge to the banks will remain at €500 million, even though this figure was calculated to include the five foreign-owned Irish banks which had applied to join. Only one foreign-owned bank, Postbank, has signed up, but its covered liabilities, at just €150 million, are small compared with the other six lenders.

Mr Sheehy said the greater the number of banks in the scheme, the wider the charge is spread.

Now that Ulster Bank and Halifax-Bank of Scotland (Ireland) have opted out, the cost to each of the seven covered institutions could go up, if the department expects them to meet the €500 million annual charge.