Liam McLoughlin, the head of Bank of Ireland’s domestic retail banking unit, has stepped down from his role to pursue other interests, the lender has announced.
In a brief statement issued yesterday, Bank of Ireland confirmed Mr McLoughlin’s departure and thanked him for his time with the company.
Mr McLoughlin has held a number of senior roles since joining the bank in 2004, including director of group finance and head of group manufacturing. He has served as the chief executive of the bank’s retail operations in Ireland since 2012.
Des Crowley, chief executive of the bank’s UK retail division, has taken over from Mr McLoughlin on an interim basis in tandem with his current duties.
The bank has begun the search for a permanent replacement. Francesca McDonagh, chief executive at Bank of Ireland, thanked Mr McLoughlin for his service to the bank over the past 12 years.
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“I want to thank Liam for his loyal service and commitment and to take this opportunity to wish him every success in the next phase of his career,” she said.
Mr McLoughlin is the first senior executive to leave the bank since Ms McDonagh took the reins as chief executive in October last year. The former HSBC banker is understood to be carrying out a wide-ranging review of the bank’s operations, including of senior managerial functions.
It is believed further management changes may be made in the coming months but Ms McDonagh is unlikely to make any significant announcements before the bank publishes its full-year results for 2017 next month.
Ms McDonagh has made the resolution of the tracker mortgage scandal her main priority since joining Bank of Ireland.
In his role as head of retail Mr McLoughlin appeared before the Oireachtas finance committee last year in its hearings on the scandal.
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At a September hearing of the committee, Mr McLoughlin was questioned by TDs on the bank’s response to the issue. In response, he described the situation as “regrettable” and said that customers who had been overcharged or wrongly denied a tracker mortgage would be compensated over the coming months.
Ms McDonagh and the chief executives of the country’s other major lenders were brought before Paschal Donohoe, the finance minister, the following month over the scandal.
Bank of Ireland confirmed in November that 6,000 more customers had been caught up in the tracker mortgage scandal.