Allied Irish Fires 6 Allfirst Executives

Allied Irish Banks fired six executives at its U.S. business after alleged bogus currency market trades cost Ireland’s biggest lender $691 million. Chief Executive Michael Buckley will keep his job.

The dismissals follow a monthlong investigation by former U.S. bank regulator Eugene Ludwig into how trader John Rusnak allegedly racked up the losses without being caught by management at Allied Irish or its Allfirst Financial Inc. unit.

David Cronin, Allfirst’s treasurer, and five other managers at the Baltimore-based unit were fired. Allfirst Chairman Frank Bramble is leaving in June; CEO Susan Keating remains in her post.

Rusnak, 37, carried out the alleged fraud over more than four years, according to the Ludwig report, which was paid for by Allied Irish. Rusnak made bad bets on the Japanese yen and covered up his losses by taking steps such as falsifying bank records and documents, the 57-page report said.