AIB has been ordered by the Financial Regulator to conduct an independent review of its staff whistleblowing charter, dubbed the 'Speak Up policy', the Sunday Tribune has learned. It comes amid concerns the Irish financial services industry has failed to stop the abuses of the boom years.

Whistleblowing charters in operation in the Irish financial services industry are designed to protect the anonymity of staff, ensure their complaints are taken seriously and to protect them from retaliation after reporting alleged abuses to superiors.

It is understood the regulator has invoked AIB to undertake an in-depth review of its rules to encourage and protect internal whistleblowers and has also told the bank to carry out a detailed analysis of whether its policies are effective. The review will be carried out by an independent expert outside the bank, this newspaper understands.

Separately, AIB's Speak Up policy is currently at the centre of an employment appeals tribunal involving a former capital markets division manager Brian Purcell.

Purcell, who claims he was suspended and subsequently sacked after using the whistleblowing charter in 2008, said his complaint became known to several managers and employees in the bank soon after it was made.

AIB told the tribunal last week there was "no evidence" Purcell's dismissal was in any way linked to his using the Speak Up charter and came after a long disciplinary process in which Purcell admitted accessing 16 banking accounts.

A spokeswoman for the Financial Regulator said it could not disclose any information on individual institutions and could not therefore comment on individual policies such as reviews of whistleblowing charters in institutions.

The Irish Bank Officials Association general secretary Larry Broderick said the union considered policies to encourage whistleblowers in Ireland to be "totally inadequate". It wants new legislation and is preparing "a comprehensive" submission to the Financial Regulator and to the Department of Justice.

Banks strengthened their whistleblowing charters during the last decade. In 2004, AIB revised its Speak Up policy after revelations it was to repay about €60m to customers overcharged over many years. Its Speak Up policy guarantees the whistleblower will be protected even if the complaint "later transpires to be unfounded".

The Regulator has previously ordered a review of corporate governance across all the major banks, including Bank of Ireland.