Banks, pay and bonuses

Sir, – You report that Bank of Ireland chief executive Francesca McDonagh has said that pay caps and bonus bans across bailed-out lenders have curbed her ability to make senior hires, leaving an element of risk in the implementation of her new strategy (Business This Week, June 15th).

Being able to make senior hires without such limitations in the past did not stop the banks taking risks which collapsed our economy during the financial crisis.

Perhaps we should accept the risks to a chief executive’s strategy that come from leaving it in the hands of humbler, overpaid (but not as overpaid as they might be) senior staff, over the extravagant risks that extravagantly paid senior hires might take. – Yours, etc,

COLIN WALSH,

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Templeogue,

Dublin 6W.