Former Paddy Power chief executive Patrick Kennedy has emerged as the clear favourite to succeed Archie Kane as chairman of Bank of Ireland later this year.
This follows the announcement by Bank of Ireland on Wednesday that Mr Kane would be stepping down from a role he has held since June 2012.
Mr Kennedy is currently deputy governor of Bank of Ireland, having joined the board in 2010. He is also chairman of Car Trawler, an Irish fleet management software company.
A chartered accountant by training, he led Irish listed bookmaker Paddy Power from 2006 to 2014, a period of substantial growth and diversification for the company.
Before Paddy Power, he worked as chief financial officer at Irish food company Greencore, where he spent seven years in total. In addition, he worked with KPMG Corporate Finance in Ireland and the Netherlands, and as a strategy consultant with McKinsey in London, Dublin and Amsterdam.
His biography on Bank of Ireland’s website describes him as having an “in-depth knowledge of international business, management, finance, corporate transactions, strategic development and risk management”.
Selection process
In a short statement on Thursday, Bank of Ireland said a selection process was “under way” to appoint a new chairman, and an announcement would be made in “due course”.
Mr Kane's decision to step aside comes less than five months after Richie Boucher stood down as group chief executive to be replaced by Francesca McDonagh.
Bank of Ireland is due to publish its annual results on February 26th, when it is expected to announce it first dividend to shareholders since the crash in late 2008.
The company will hold its agm on April 20th and host an investor day on June 13th.
Bank of Ireland’s annual report for 2016 shows that Mr Kane received an annual non-pensionable salary of €394,000 for his role as chairman of the bank.
In addition, he had a consultancy arrangement with the bank’s UK subsidiary, for which he received a fee of €59,000.
He also received an accommodation, utilities and car allowance of €37,000, to bring his total remuneration to €490,000.
