The choice of Mr Michael Soden as chief executive of the Bank of Ireland came as a great surprise to most observers.

But within hours of the appointment announcement, many market sources said Mr Soden would either oversee the sale of the bank to a bigger international player or would prove the man to put it on the international stage through mergers and acquisitions.

Mr Soden is originally from Dublin but before his appointment to the top job at the Bank of Ireland, had spent most of his career working outside the State. He has worked in London, Canada, and the US. And most recently he worked in Australia where he was the head of NAB's international retail banking operations.

Mr Soden's parents emigrated to the US but he returned to Ireland and completed his education here. He attended Blackrock College and later UCD before moving to Canada in the 1970s to work for Shell.

He returned to Ireland to work for ICC Bank and later took over as office manager at the Cork office of US group Citibank. In 1985 he joined Security Pacific to establish Hoare Govett.

After a particularly good performance in 1989, he was paid a significant amount of money and decided to retire to travel and play golf. However, he came out of retirement in 1994 when head hunted by NAB.

He is said to be flamboyant and personable. He was very popular at NAB where he was said to have been demanding of his staff.

During his first seven months at the Bank of Ireland he was paid €1.61 million.