Bank of Ireland to lose three top executive in coming months

Bank of Ireland is set to lose three top executives in the coming months as a management shake-up under the stewardship of its new chief executive, Francesca McDonagh, accelerates.

The company said on Tuesday that Michael Torpey, chief executive of the corporate and treasury division, and Peter Morris, chief executive of governance and regulatory officer, plan to retire during the summer.

Meanwhile, Lewis Love, who had rejoined the bank in late 2016, has decided to leave the bank "to spend more time with his family, travel and pursue other opportunities", it said. The bank had previously declined to respond to questions from The Irish Times last month about Mr Love's planned exit. He had previously worked with the bank between 2006 and 2008.

Strategy

In addition, the bank has appointed Gavin Kelly as chief executive of its largest division, Retail Ireland, replacing Liam McLoughlin, who signalled his departure in January. Mr Kelly has been with the bank for 11 years and currently holds the position of group chief information officer.

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"Looking at our strategy over the next five years, there are going to be big challenges and opportunities. I want a team that's, as much as possible, going to be with me over the next three to five years," Ms McDonagh, who succeeded Richie Boucher as chief executive last October, told The Irish Times.

While Tom Hayes will remain chief executive of corporate banking, he will now join the group executive committee to reflect the importance of this business to the group, the bank said. Vincent Mulvey, chief risk officer, will take on additional responsibilities previously held by Mr Morris.

Steve Collier, director of the bank’s €900 million information technology overhaul programme, will report directly to the chief executive and attend group executive committee meetings.

Maureen Stanley has been appointed as group chief operating officer on an interim basis, subject to regulatory approval, having moved to the lender from Ulster Bank in 2013.

Departures

The shake-up also follows a series of high-level departures last year. Julie Sharp, head of human resources, left the bank in December. The head of business banking, Mark Cunningham, and Mick Sweeney, who had led a number of group businesses over a decade and a half, also signalled before Ms McDonagh came on board that they were leaving the bank.

Ms McDonagh, a former HSBC executive, conceded that Bank of Ireland has “more work to do” to promote greater gender diversity on its senior management team.

“I would love to have an increasingly diverse time. It’s not complete, but I also have to work with the pipeline of talent that I have within [the bank],” the chief executive said. “We have some really talented women that I’m very keen to see contributing at the top table. We have to look at how we can bring more women along the career path, but that does take time.”

Eamonn Hughes, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers, said the “volume of management changes does not come as a surprise and shows the new CEO Francesca McDonagh’s efforts to reconfigure her own management team”.