Irish Life & Permanent has announced the surprise retirement of Mr Harry Lorton, chief executive of its Permanent TSB subsidiary.
The life assurance and banking group announced that Mr Lorton (51), who was the former chief executive of TSB Bank, will leave the group.
He is expected to depart in the next few weeks and will be replaced by Mr Brian McConnell.
Mr McConnell (55) is currently group chief operating officer at Irish Life & Permanent and is an executive director of the group.
Before joining Irish Life he worked with group chief executive Mr David Went at Ulster Bank. He was chief executive of Ulster Investment Bank between 1987 and 1995. Mr McConnell was also previously regional managing director for NatWest UK corporate banking services.
In his current role, he is closely associated with the operation of the bank and will immediately take over as chief executive of Permanent TSB.
Mr Lorton, who has worked in banking for 33 years, said he was leaving to pursue a number of personal interests.
"The completion of the merger of Irish Permanent and TSB Bank makes this an opportune time to draw a line under this phase of my career and take the time to explore a number of personal interests."
Mr Lorton said he was not ruling anything out in the future but, in the interim, he wanted to improve his language skills, particularly French and Spanish. He explained that he had considered retirement over the past three or four months.
"I've been very fortunate in my career and I've enjoyed wonderful experiences. I wish my colleagues in Permanent TSB and Irish Life & Permanent every success in the future," he said yesterday.
Mr Lorton had been at the forefront of integrating TSB with Irish Permanent. The bank was sold to Irish Life & Permanent in 2000 after two previous attempts to merge with other financial institutions failed.
In 1994 it attempted to become part of National Irish Bank and in 1999 a merger with the then State-owned ACCBank was abandoned.
Under the terms of a contract he held with TSB Bank and which transferred to Permanent TSB, Mr Lorton is believed to have been entitled to a payment equivalent to one year's remuneration whenever his contract was terminated.
This would reflect his basic salary and bonus, with industry sources suggesting he will receive a lump sum equivalent to about €500,000. He will also have substantial pension entitlements after 33 years.
Mr Lorton was awarded share options when he joined the Irish Life & Permanent group, although these will now expire.
Under the terms of these arrangements he would have had to remain with the bank for five years to cash them in.
His departure marks a new era for former TSB customers. The environment at Irish Life & Permanent would have been completely different and would have presented its own challenges for Mr Lorton.
TSB was run by a board of trustees but Mr Lorton had great autonomy to run the bank without interference. At Irish Life & Permanent, Mr Lorton would have reported to Mr Went and was a member of the board of directors.
