Seán FitzPatrick: Former Anglo-Irish Bank boss dies aged 73

The former chief executive and chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Seán FitzPatrick, has died at the age of 73.

The controversial Irish businessman was in charge of the bank when it was brought to the brink of collapse during the global financial crisis.

It was nationalized in 2009, costing the Irish taxpayer billions of euros.

Mr Fitzpatrick was later prosecuted for misleading Anglo’s auditors about loans but he was acquitted after the longest criminal trial in Irish history.

He had pleaded not guilty to 27 charges and was cleared on the direction of a judge who said the investigation into his loans was not sufficiently impartial.

Better known as Seanie, he was a high-profile banker whose rise to prominence and spectacular fall from grace was seen as a symbol of the Republic of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy.

‘Seanie’ was in many ways the face of Ireland’s banking and property crisis in the late 2000s.

As chief executive, he built Anglo Irish Bank into a fast-moving, risk-taking property-focused lender.

The business model was unsustainable and came spectacularly crashing down in 2008, by which time he was chairman.

He gave an extraordinary interview to RTÉ radio shortly after the government had given the country’s ailing banks a €400bn (£342bn) guarantee – effectively putting the state on the hook for the bank’s losses.

He declined the opportunity to apologies for his bank’s role in the crisis saying: “I can’t say sorry with any degree of sincerity and decency, but I can say thank you.”

The County Wicklow accountant became general manager of the tiny Irish bank in 1980. He was later appointed chief executive of the parent company and transformed it into Anglo.

In 2005, he became the chairman, though he maintained a hands-on role.

He became an influential figure, at one stage acting as an unofficial advisor to Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

But in 2008, he was forced to resign amid allegations about the true size of his personal borrowings from the bank.

The multi-millionaire was then declared bankrupt by the High Court in Dublin in 2010 with debts reportedly in the region of more than €70m (£60m).

A spokesman for Mr Fitzpatrick’s family confirmed that he died on Monday.

He is survived by his wife and three adult children.

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