BANK OF IRELAND has announced changes to its management structure and the appointments of a new executive director and a former finance director of Ulster Bank to its executive team.

The bank confirmed the appointment of Andrew Keating, who was previously head of group finance, as chief financial officer. He replaces John O’Donovan following his retirement last year.

Mr Keating also joins the board of the bank, which it calls the “court”, making him the first new executive director since before the start of the banking crisis of 2008.

His appointment brings to 12 the number of directors on the board, including the last pre-crisis director at the bank, Jerome Kennedy, who will retire at this year’s annual meeting.

A chartered accountant, Mr Keating joined Bank of Ireland in 2004 from Ulster Bank. He will be second-in-command on Bank of Ireland’s management team to chief executive Richie Boucher who also worked at Ulster Bank before joining the bank in 2003.

Mr Keating is a director of the bank’s subsidiary, Bristol West.

Senan Murphy, who was Ulster Bank’s finance director and chief operating officer from 2008 until last year, will join the bank shortly as head of group manufacturing.

He will replace Liam McLoughlin who takes over as chief executive of Irish retail operations, which the bank has decided to split from the UK retail operations into two separate divisions.

Des Crowley, who was previously head of the combined Irish and UK operation, will take charge of the UK division after the separation of the division takes effect from the middle of next month.

The bank said that by splitting the Irish and UK business it was as “enhancing the visibility of and focus on two of our most significant businesses”. The split is a return to the bank’s pre-crisis structure. The divisions were merged in 2009. The chief executives of the two new divisions will be members of the group executive committee. Mr Crowley was an executive director of the bank until last year. Mr McLoughlin, who like Mr Keating joined Bank of Ireland from Ulster Bank in 2004, will be responsible for the bank’s Irish branch network, business banking, mortgages, personal lending, credit and debit cards, and wealth management business.

Prior to his stint at Ulster Bank, he worked as financial controller with State body, the National Treasury Management Agency.