Irish Permanent has announced that Mr Peter Ledbetter is resigning as a member of the board next March, shortly before the group's £2.9 billion merger with Irish Life is due to be completed.

Mr Ledbetter's decision to retire from Irish Permanent at the age of 55 is not a surprise, as it is understood he was deeply dissatisfied when he was omitted from the proposed board of the merged Irish Life & Permanent plc.

Mr Ledbetter has been a member of the Irish Permanent board since 1991 and has been involved in the expansion by the then building society into new business, including the establishment of Irish Permanent Finance, the expansion into life assurance and private banking. He also played a leading role in Irish Permanent's conversion to a public company four years ago.

Negotiations on the terms of Mr Ledbetter's retirement have been in progress ever since the merger was announced three weeks ago, but have not been disclosed. He owns 162,196 Irish Permanent shares worth more than £1.6 million and has share options worth an estimated £1 million at the current share price.