Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AIB Group Plc Annual General Meeting 2021. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. And to ask your question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Conor Goldson, sir, you may begin.
Thank you very much. Okay. Just to start off today, just to introduce Brendan McDonough, Our Chairman for today, who will take us through today's proceedings. Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome Our 2021 Annual General Meeting. My name is Brendan McDonough. I'm the Deputy Chair and Acting Chair of AIB Group Plc, and I'm very pleased To chair today's proceedings, I have confirmed that we have a quorum and so that I can now formally open the meeting. The notice of the meeting together with 2020 Annual Report will be posted to shareholders on the 1st April 2021 and are available on our website. The Annual General Meeting is again being held under constrained circumstances given the ongoing COVID-nineteen pandemic.
Hopefully, next year, You'll see us gather once again in one room for this meeting. For today, we have the minimum number of people present in our group head office 10 Molshire Street required to allow the meeting to be validly held. That is the quorum of 2. In addition, we have a very limited number of people necessary To answer your questions, which may comprise which comprise myself our Chief Executive, Colin Hunt Our Chief Financial Officer, Don Galvin our General Counsel, Helen Dooley and our Company Secretary, Conor Goulson. Meanwhile, our physical arrangements today ensure that we're observing the social distancing guidelines with at least the distance of 2 meters between each of All of the other directors are joining us by phone today.
I will invite Colin to give an overview of the bank's performance during 2020 Later in the meeting, I will also address the quarter one trading update released this morning. In my statement in the 2020 Annual Report, I noted that everything that could be said about the group's performance in 2020 Must be set against the COVID-nineteen pandemic and the resulting health and economic crisis. At our AGM last year, the directors withdrew the resolution relating And there is no such resolution this year either on account of the group's financial performance during 2020. The board booked a substantial division for expected credit losses in 2020 amounting to EUR 1,460,000,000 Having taken a conservative forward looking and comprehensive approach to the economic situation. Despite this, the group maintained a very strong capital position In the past year, almost overnight, other than for our branches, which remained open throughout the pandemic And continue to remain open.
AIV managed to pivot its business to remote working and working from home for over 7,000 employees Whose commitment and dedication to the group and to our customers with commendable resilience, I wish to pay tribute to them now. These employees continue to put our customers first and enabled us to extend breathing space to more than 80,000 payment breaks and other supports to many of our retail and business customers who are facing into very uncertain times. They support each other, And they helped your board discharge its responsibility seamlessly when it switched to remote meetings. Your board has met 29 times in 2020, And its main committees have met 49 times. Everything after 5th March 2020 has been done remotely, Again, all made possible by our employees.
Since the AGM last year, we appointed Fergal Adwiroir and Andy Maguire to the Board And to the audit and risk committees respectively. Both are very experienced individuals and are contributing very effectively already. We have a number of additional Board appointment processes in train, including one for the Board Chair, and we'll share details with you as soon as we can. I will now pass over to Colin. Given the unique circumstance of today's meeting, there's no video or other formal presentation.
Rather, Colin will address you here in this room and those of you joining us on the conference line. Thank you.
Thank you, Brendan. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you for taking the time to join us today. I'm very pleased to be here to update you on the group's performance for 2020 And for the Q1 of this year as per our trading statement released to the market this morning. We are undoubtedly living through extraordinary times. Our customers and the communities we serve have faced an unprecedented social, health Economic crisis as a result of COVID-nineteen coupled with additional economic uncertainty arising from Brexit.
At the outset, I also want to pay particular tribute to all our team members across AIB Group For their exceptional performance and supporting our customers and each other at this very difficult time. 2020 was a year like no other, And our performance last year was very much shaped by COVID-nineteen. We entered this crisis in a position of capital strength, Which enabled by our leading digital technology allowed us to deliver unparalleled levels of support to our customers, Communities and the economy when it mattered most. We gave our retail customers over 66,000 payment breaks with over 88% of those customers now having returned to full repayment of principal and interest. Over 80% of our employees moved to working from home, while hundreds of our team members remained on the frontline, serving our customers, Keeping more than 99% of our branches open and bringing stability to the main streets of Ireland when so many other businesses were forced to close their doors.
AIB was first to market with our government backed COVID-nineteen credit guarantee scheme term loan Allocating €746,000,000 to support businesses as disease mitigating lockdowns affected day to day operations and supply We didn't get it right all the time, but we responded quickly in areas where we initially fell short. We navigated the pandemic while fundamentally altering our operational model, proving ourselves to be extraordinarily agile And resilient at a time of great change and great uncertainty. The trends relating to digitalization, sustainability and changing the way we work have been fast tracked by COVID-nineteen. Against this backdrop, it was our view that this once in a lifetime event was the moment to accelerate At the onset of the pandemic in March of last year, while our immediate and primary focus was on supporting our customers and our We also began work on refreshing our strategic plan. In December, we announced details of the acceleration of our existing strategy, which will see our organization transformed and delivering on a revised set of targets to 2023.
In light of the revision of our strategic plan, we took the opportunity to review the executive committee structure to ensure that we were best organized to deliver our The outcome of this review led to the redefinition of the role of Chief Operating Officer into 2 distinct positions, A COO to lead transformation while driving the ongoing efficiency of our operations and a Chief Technology Officer to lead our technology agenda, an ongoing enhancement of our customer and employee digital propositions. A process is currently underway to fill these positions. Since December, we have been implementing our strategy at pace, and we are pleased to report progress on both our cost initiatives and on our growth initiatives, Which are designed to broaden the range of products and services that we present to our customers, to win new customers and to strengthen our business. In March, we were delighted to announce the acquisition of Goodbody, which the regulatory approval process is currently underway. Commercial negotiations are progressing well with NatWest Holdings, Following the filing of memorandum of understanding for the proposed acquisition of Ulster Bank's circa €4,000,000,000 corporate and commercial loan book.
And in addition, discussions are progressing well with Great West Life Co. To establish an AIB branded joint venture to greatly enhance our life pensions And savings propositions that we offer to our customers. While there have been challenges in 2020, The fundamentals of our business remain robust, sustainable and strong. We continue to have the leading position in personal loan, current account and credit card markets, While also leading the sustainability agenda in Financial Services in Ireland. We have a really strong franchise.
It's an exceptional platform, but one we do not take for granted. I'm pleased to report that the group returned to profitability in the Q1 of 2021 And is on track to deliver a performance in line with expectations for the full year. Total income decreased by 4% versus the same period last year, which was in line with expectations, while overall revenue displayed resilience through our diversified income streams. We've maintained our focus on cost discipline with operating expenses broadly similar to the Q1 of last year. And our strategic cost initiatives are on track With full time employee numbers reducing by 1% since December.
Our expected credit loss approach deployed in response to the impact of COVID-nineteen has been comprehensive, conservative and forward looking. And we recorded a net credit impairment charge of some EUR 50,000,000 in the Q1 with a return to a more normalized credit environment Expected based on positive trends emerging. In the Q1 of this year, total new lending of €2,300,000,000 was recorded, A reduction of 7% versus the same period in 2020. We saw mixed trends across segments With sluggish demand in consumer lending and stronger activity in corporate sectors. The Irish mortgage market performed strongly in the Q1 of 20 21, with total drawdowns up 7% on the Q1 of 2020.
A solid rise in mortgage lending is expected With market estimates revised to some €10,000,000,000 for 2021. Our new mortgage lending was €500,000,000 in the quarter. The Q1 pipeline shows strong applications and approvals data both at market level And the group's share thereof, giving us confidence in our full year performance. The Q1 lockdown impacted consumer credit demand, which led to a 30% decline in new Republic of Ireland Personal Lending versus the same period last year. In contrast, Household deposits have continued to increase, while credit card debt and overdrafts declined.
We expect this trend to reverse on the reopening of the economy as discretionary spending increases as we saw in the Q3 of last year. The SME sector supported by government measures remained resilient and we recorded a 3% increase in new lending compared to the Q1 of 2020. Corporate, Institutional and Business Banking had a good start to the year, particularly in the renewable energy sector and corporate banking. In addition, new lending in the UK was up by 8%. We continue to support our customers with the transition to a lower carbon economy and green lending accounted for 21% of total new lending, Finestar Green mortgage product represented some 15% of new mortgage lending.
Key priority for the group is addressing nonperforming exposures in a sustainable way. Our preference is to restructure loans for customers in difficulty on a case by case basis and for customers to engage with us in order to provide sustainable solutions. In the Q1, we agreed the sales of 2 NPE portfolios in deep arrears, which as at the end of the first quarter, Reduces our NPEs to $3,800,000,000 or 6.5 percent of gross loans, down from $4,300,000,000 in December of last year. We remain committed to reducing NPEs further given their impact on cost, capital requirements and balance sheet resilience. As regards capital, we have a fully loaded CET1 ratio of 15.8%, up from 15.6% in December, which is well ahead of our medium term target of greater than 14%.
Our strong capital position enables us both to invest in our business and to pursue ROTE accretive acquisitions and joint ventures, which will, over time, enable us We also made major advances In sustainability, which sits at the very heart of our strategy. We are fundamentally committed to supporting transition to a low carbon economy, reducing our own carbon footprint and helping our customers to do the same. We have clearly shown it is possible to do well while doing good, with our green lending being the strongest performing part of our lending book. We have announced our commitment to becoming the 1st Irish bank to operate as carbon neutral across our operations by 2,030, And we pledge to use our local reach and influence to help society make that transition, ensuring a greener tomorrow by backing those building it today. So far this year, we are proud to be the 1st Irish company to have committed to use World Economic Forum Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics in our reporting, joining 78 other sustainability focused companies globally.
The Forum's stakeholder capitalism metrics are based on the 4 value driven principles of people, planet, prosperity and governance. This commitment reflects our pledge to lead with purpose and to seek long term value creation by adopting a multi stakeholder approach. Additionally, we are the 1st Irish bank to join the United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance. Our progress is recognized independently and externally by both rating agencies and industry bodies, most recently with Sustainability Analytics, Banking us 53rd out of 1047 banks globally with a low risk ESG score of 14.5 in April this year, which benchmarks very favorably compared to our peer group and demonstrates our significant progress in advancing the sustainability agenda. As I reflect in the last year, there is no doubt That we have really seen the best of our culture in action.
With our people coming together to deliver solutions for customers, Colleagues adapting to new ways of working and in parallel people and teams supporting their local communities. As part of our ongoing cultural evolution program, in 2020, we launched a refreshed set of values and associated behaviors to further enable fair customer outcomes. Our strategic ambition can only be achieved When all of our customers see AIB as their trusted partner to help manage their financial well-being At every stage of life. As we look to the rest of the year, we expect a robust recovery as the economy reopens and the rollout of vaccines The implementation of our strategy is well underway and positions us strongly for the future. As our industry undergoes significant change, our strategic clarity gives us confidence that our strong balance sheet, digital capability, Distribution and franchise will enable us to grow, serving our customers and the communities in which we operate.
As stated earlier, we are progressing a number of acquisition opportunities to complement our existing strong customer propositions, And we look forward to updating you on these initiatives at the appropriate time later in the year. As Ireland emerges from lockdown and the vaccine rollout continues, we are confident about the outlook and our ability to generate
Thank you very much, Colin. We now come to the formal part of the meeting where we will consider and vote on the resolutions. There are a total of 24 resolutions This may seem high, but is due to the need to treat the proposed resolutions regarding the reelection of each director separately. You'll have an opportunity to ask questions in a few moments. But if you prefer to ask your questions privately, then please make contact with our company secretary at any time after the meeting, And they will be answered.
The relevant address is in the notice of meeting. To myself and the Senior Executive President, we will do our best to answer your questions. But where more information may be required, I'll ask that you provide your details and questions after the meeting and we'll ensure that they are followed up. Also, I ask you respectfully to focus your questions on the business of today's meeting. As a matter of procedure, I will propose the 24 resolutions in one section And then take questions in relation to the 24 resolutions when that is completed.
You're entitled to ask any question, any resolution in that question section. Hope this makes it easier for you. So I seek your patience as the question time will come later. The Board believes it is important that The intentions of all shareholders who register or vote are taken into account. And therefore, I'm calling a poll on each of the resolutions proposed.
We will be voting by poll on each of them separately at the end of the meeting. And in that way, all the proxies received prior to the meeting will be taken into account. The full text of each resolution is included at pages 11 to 15 of the notice of meeting. We'll come to the questions after I've proposed all of the resolutions. The first resolution on the agenda relates 2020 annual financial report, which I propose shortly as an ordinary resolution.
Before I do that, I need to turn to the independent auditors report. Is extremely detailed and is set out on pages 215 to 226, inclusive of our 2020 annual financial report, copies of which you've received And are available on our website. John McCarroll from our auditors at Deloitte is also joining the meeting by phone. However, I propose that With the consent of the members present here at the meeting, we take the auditor's report as read. Thank you.
I would therefore propose the following resolution that following review of the company's affairs, the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020, Together reports of the directors and the auditor thereon be received and considered. Resolution 2 deals with the auditor's remuneration. The work of the auditor and the level of the audit fees are reviewed on behalf of the Board by Board Audit Committee. That committee is satisfied with the effectiveness of the auditor and that the fees are appropriate. I'm pleased, therefore, to propose as an ordinary resolution to authorize the directors to fix the remuneration Resolution 3 relates to continuation in office of Deloitte as auditor.
Under Irish company law, the statutory auditor is automatically appointed except in very specific and limited circumstances, which do not pertain here. Accordingly, this vote is an advisory vote only. So I propose the following order resolution as an advisory resolution That the continuation in office of Deloitte as the audit of the company until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the company be considered. Resolution 4 deals with the election and reelection of directors. As advised in the letter from the Deputy Chair accompanying the note of the meeting, AIB Group Plc is required to comply with provisions of the Irish Listing Rules and the UK Listing Rules relating to controlling shareholders and the election Or reelection of independent Non Exec Directors.
As the Minister of Finance in Ireland is a controlling shareholder for the purpose of the listing rules, That is the minister exercises or controls more than 30% of voting rights of the company. Resolutions for A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K must be approved by a majority vote of both The shareholders of the company and the independent shareholders of the company, that is the shareholders of the company who are not controlling shareholders The Board is confident that all directors' experience are knowledgeable and that they bring valuable skills to the Board and provide an objective perspective. The Board considers that the contribution of each of the individual directors and the Board as a whole is and continues to be important to the long term sustainable success of the company. Biographical information on each of the directors being proposed for reelection and reelection is set out on pages 5455 of the 2020 annual financial report And in the case of Andy Maguire, in my letter to you, which accompanied the notice of this meeting. So I now propose a separate ordinary resolution to each of Basil Gaven, Colin Hunt, Sandy Kinney Pritchard, Carol Anne Lennon, Elaine McLane, Andy Maguire, Brendan McDonough, Helen O'Moyle, Anne O'Brien, Fergal O'Dwyer and Raj Singh Be elected or re elected as the director.
Resolution 5 is another advisory resolution, which deals with the remuneration of the company directors as So I propose the following ordinary resolution as an advisory resolution: That the directors' remuneration report is set out on pages 205 to 207 of the 2020 annual financial report be considered. Resolution 6 There's an advisory resolution in relation to the renumeration policy. I propose as an ordinary resolution that the renumeration policy is set out On page 2001 to 202 of the 2020 annual financial report be considered. Resolutions 7 through 11 are very technical in nature and are quite long winded unfortunately And I'll set out in detail in the notice of the meeting and explained in the company than ever from myself. They're considered to be in line with market practice and take account of relevant guidelines and principles.
And with the consent of the members present here at the meeting, I propose that we take the full text of the resolutions as read, And I will instead describe briefly the purpose of each of these resolutions for you now. Resolution 7 is an ordinary resolution, which I now
I propose to authorize the directors to allocate initial shares should the need arise.
I propose Resolution 8A. This is a special resolution which, if passed, would allow for the limited disapplication of preemption rights, while empowering the directors To allot equity securities for cash otherwise than in accordance with statutory preemption rights. This limited this application is restricted to just 5% of the I also propose Resolution 8B. This is another special resolution, Which, if passed, would allow for the limited disapplication of preemption rights proposed to empower the directors to allot equity securities for cash To fund an acquisition or what the directors determined to be a specified capital investment, this limited this application is also capped at 5% of current issued share capital. Taking these two resolutions in this way, it is recommended practice The preemption group, which monitors the protection of shareholder rights in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Resolution 9 is proposed by me as a special resolution to authorize the market purchase by the company of its own shares up to 10% of the company's issued ordinary shares as of the date of the passing of this resolution. Resolution 10 is a special resolution to authorize the company to reissue shares purchased by it And not canceled as treasury shares. If granted, the minimum maximum prices with treasury shares may be reissued shall be determined in accordance with resolution and the company's articles of association and our proposed Resolution 10 to this meeting. Resolution 11 is another special resolution and is proposed by IMU, which will permit the directors to resolve that any dividends declared in the future by the directors Or declared by the shareholders and the recommendation of the directors shall be paid by electronic means only. Resolution 12 is also proposed by me as a special resolution to authorize the directors to call a general meeting other than an annual general meeting Or a meeting for the passing of a special resolution or the appointment of director on not less than 14 clear days' notice.
Finally, I propose Resolution 13 as a special resolution. This resolution, if passed, will grant the company authority to make off market purchases of ordinary shares from the Minister For Finance or his nominee Pursuant to the directed buyback contract, which is envisaged will be entering the company shortly after today's meeting. There is no current plan or intention to exercise this authority, and any exercise other than the future will only be contemplated by your Board And undertaken if it considers that such transactions will be in the best interest of shareholders as a whole and relevant regulatory approvals are in place. We are now open for your questions. First, I will take questions which were submitted in advance of the meeting, And I will ask our company secretary, Conor Goulson, to read these on behalf of the shareholders.
While he is doing this, should anyone On the phone lines, wish to ask a question, please press star 1 to signify this to the operator, who will open the line for you One person at a time. Please clearly state your name before asking the question. To be fair to everybody on the phone lines and to provide as many people as I would ask that you please ask your question as quickly as possible. I also ask that you limit your questions today to matters which are specifically related to the resolutions before today's meeting. And I would like to thank you for your cooperation in advance.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Brendan. So we received 2 shareholders wrote questions in advance and submitted them to I'm delighted to deal with them now. The first is from Colin McDonald. And the question is, in 1991, The bank induced staff and retired staff to transfer to new benefits in the Deboop Irish Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. The benefits included pensions fully linked to the Consumer Price Index.
These benefits replaced pensions, which were related to salary scales. The bank is now denying that it has an obligation to fund the scheme sufficiently To allow the trustee to fully award these benefits, how do you reconcile this policy with your own code of conduct, which requires management, both individually and collectively, To behave honestly, ethically and with integrity, to honor your commitment and in general to do the right thing. So our answer to that is as follows. The decision on the awarding of pension increases is a discretionary decision of the trustee without regards to the bank. It is not a decision of the bank.
The trustee set out its position in relation to the 1992 and the 1996 deeds in some detail in the 2016 member newsletter, Following an extensive legal review and the trustee issued personalized letters to each affected pensioner. In 2017, the Board, having taken actuarial and external legal advice, determined that the funding of discretionary increase in pensions and payment Is a decision to be made by the Board annually for the group's main Irish schemes. A process taking account of all relevant interests and factors has been implemented by the Board. These interests and factors include the advice of the actuary, the interest of the members of the scheme, the interest of the employees, The group's financial circumstances and ability to pay, the views of the trustees, the group's commercial interests and any competing obligations to the state. The Board has followed this process since 2017 and has disclosed this very transparently in its annual report since.
Pensions are a complex matter. And whenever they impact upon the bank and are considered by the Board, the Board ensures that it has the necessary actuarial, financial and legal advice To ensure it is fulfilling its duties. And the second question came in from Vincent McManus. And Yves, you've got 2 questions. The first is, was a live video conference or audio cast via platforms such as Zoom, Crowdcast, MS Teams or Loomi Considered for the AGM.
If so, what were the arguments formed against? If not, was there a particular reason? And the second question is, I particularly like receiving hard copies of annual reports. I accept that 120 gram per square meter card paper is needed for archival purposes. I am impartial to having color in the document.
Has the Board considered producing annual reports with paper weight less than 80 grams per square meter? If not, is there a particular reason why? So our answers to these questions, Brendan, are we did consider one of the platforms, but decided against it for this year on the but decided against it for this year on the basis of technical capability and evidence of more widespread adoption amongst users. We also wanted to see more evidence of the technology being proven in events such as an AGM, particularly where the fielding of questions and voting are concerned. AIB embraces new technologies, and it will certainly form part of our consideration again for next year's AGM.
It's important, though, essential to our thinking this year And indeed, last year was to ensure a stable, reliable channel for shareholders to both listen into the meeting and to ask questions with the minimum of hurdles We are quite deliberately favoring ease of access to and participation in the meeting. As regards the query on the annual report, the paper used in the majority of our annual report this year is in fact 80 grams per square meter. We have already looked at options below this level for future reports, although maintaining a minimum production standard and durability will, of course, be important. Sustainability is a central pillar to the group's strategy, and we do encourage shareholders to switch to electronic or online access to the annual report. Only 10% of our shareholders, 8,300 of our 82,000 shareholders continue to request a hard copy of the annual report.
We actively seek a reduction in this level each year through a direct mail to such shareholders. We only publish our annual sustainability report Online. Over to you, gentlemen. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Conor. With that, I believe the operator Well, let me know if there are any questions in the I believe we have a question.
Yes. So our first question comes from the line of Brendan Burgess. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Chairman, you've been on the Board since 2016. During that time, you and the Board have overseen the bank's approach The prevailing tracker scandal. You were on the Board when it approved the argument. It wasn't a breach of contract. It was only a service failure.
You were on the board when you approved the argument. This service failure doesn't impact our customers because the tracker rate Would have been as high as 12% when the FBR was 5%. Why did you not point out That these arguments made no sense to any reasonable person. Why did you have to wait for the Financial Services Ombudsman to point out that they made no sense? What's your only question at the board meeting?
If it cost us €300,000,000 to treat the prevailing rate customers fairly, How do we avoid paying this out? You were on the board when AIB came up with the slogan, putting customers first. Why did you not put customers first When it came to respecting their contractual rights to a tracker. You were appointed to the Board for your experience, Your judgment and your independence of mind. But although you've received €600,000 Director's fees over the last 5 years for this part time job, you don't seem to have the judgment or the independence To challenge the anti consumer approach of AIB to the prevailing tracker scandal.
Another AIB slogan is backing brave. It takes bravery to admit that you are wrong and then to fix the wrong done to your customers, but you are not brave enough to do that. Given that you've shown no judgment, given that you've shown no independence, given that you've shown no bravery, do you not think that you should now do the honorable thing and resign from the Board? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Burgess. First of all, let me just Address your last point first. The election or reelection of directors is obviously a matter for all shareholders. And the Board Has discharged its duties in the best interest of the company, all of its stakeholders and including its customers.
Regarding the customer group that you refer to and with the decision of the Ombudsman, As stated in last year's AGM, our view has always been that this particular customer group We're not disadvantaged by being offered a tracker mortgage. We believe the tracker mortgages at the time would be more expensive than other rates on offer, The trackers have been continued to be available. However, in March last year, when the Ombudsman issued a final decision In relation to a complaint made by one of these customers, bank decided to Apply the same level of compensation to all of the customers and acted as quickly as was practical. We've also stated in the past and you mentioned when a Board should recognize that As stakes have been made, as we've stated previously, that the Board Those deeply correct the tracker mortgage issue ever occurred. And as again, As we stated in previous 8, GEMS, the company made mistakes.
They are a stain on the bank's record. However, this board, on behalf of all of its stakeholders and its customers, has worked To remedy as quickly as possible all of the mortgages identified to the overall tracker mortgage examination process. And that exercise is largely now complete with over 99.9% Of all customers having received the appropriate compensation. Thank you very much, Mr. Burgess, for your comment Good question.
Operator, I think we can move to the next question.
There are no further questions at this time.
Okay.
Thank you. But in that case, we will now proceed to hold the polls on the resolutions proposed today. Both may be given by registered holders of ordinary shares present here And in person or by proxy and entitled to vote. Every such sorry, apologies. Every such holder has one vote for every ordinary share held.
I will vote on behalf of those shareholders who have submitted a valid proxy appointing the chair to vote on their behalf. I should mention that for those shareholders who have already lodged the proxy, they do not need to complete a poll card unless they wish To change the vote. The poll card is on the reverse of the proxy form. I will now ask the shareholders present who wish to complete polling cards to complete, Sign and deposit them into the ballot box in this room. And should anybody have any questions on the poll process, please ask Mr.
Goulsen. The polls will close immediately after the meeting closes and the votes cast will be verified under scrutiny Of Computershare. As normal, the results of the poll on the resolutions proposed will be announced publicly later today by the company to the regulatory news service known as RNS and will be available on the AIB website. This concludes proceedings. It only remains to me now to thank you for joining us today and for your participation and to wish each of you and your families Good health in the weeks months ahead while we navigate our way and our country through this COVID-nineteen crisis.
Let me assure you on behalf of the Board and all of my colleagues today, AIB will continue its work in supporting our customers and our economy in these challenging times we now face. Thank you very much.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating and you may now all disconnect.