DR MICHAEL Somers, the former head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), is being lined up by Goodbody Stockbrokers to become its new chairman.

Goodbody, Ireland’s second biggest stockbroker, was sold by AIB last year for €24 million to Kerry-based financial services group Fexco, which is led by its founder Brian McCarthy.

Dr Somers is a director of AIB, having been appointed to the board of the bank in January 2010. He was a member of the AIB board when the sale of Goodbody to Fexco was agreed by the bank.

Since severing its ties with AIB, the Ballsbridge-based stockbroker and Fexco have been working to put together a new board for the business.

Documents filed recently with the companies office show that Goodbody appointed former Labour Party leader and tánaiste Dick Spring as a non-executive director in January.

Mr Spring, a native of Kerry, is a vice-chairman at Fexco and is also a public interest director with AIB.

Ex-Central Bank chief Maurice O’Connell was appointed in February as a non-executive director.

In addition, Cork-based Gavin O’Neill of Fexco and Anne Duggan were appointed in January.

Goodbody executives Roy Barrett, Brian O’Kelly and Eamonn Glancy are also members of the board.

Additional board appointments are expected in the near future.

The Goodbody board was previously chaired by Mon O’Driscoll of AIB Capital Markets. Mr O’Driscoll was one of a number of directors to step down from the Goodbody board on January 7th.

All appointments to the board are subject to approval of the Central Bank.

Since being acquired by Fexco, Goodbody’s 280-strong workforce has been reduced by about 25, with reports suggesting that another 20 are expected to leave the business.

Dr Somers retired from the NTMA, the agency responsible for managing Ireland’s national debt, in 2009, having led the agency since it was established. He was the highest paid civil servant in the state during his time at the agency.

Last September, in an interview with The Irish Times, he revealed that he was paid just over €1 million in 2008.

Dr Somers was paid a salary of €576,000 for 2008 and a performance-related bonus of €403,000.

He also received a fee of more than €30,000 as a commissioner of the National Pension Reserve Fund, one of the State bodies run by the NTMA.

No comment was available from Goodbody or Dr Somers.

The Goodbody sale by AIB was part of a wide-ranging disposal of assets by the bank as it sought to bolster its solvency position.

Fexco was founded by Mr McCarthy in 1981 and is based in Killorglin. It provides business, merchant, consumer and international services.

The company has almost 1,400 staff in Ireland, Britain, Germany, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Its stockbroking division is expected to be folded into Goodbody.