Irish Life is set to name former Ulster Bank chief executive, Mr David Went as successor to managing director, Mr David Kingston, who has informed the board of the group he wishes to leave when his contract expires at the end of next year. Market sources have said Mr Went is in line to fill the post although no announcement has been made by the group.

An Irish Life spokesman refused to comment on speculation surrounding Mr Kingston's successor.

It is understood that Mr Kingston's successor has been chosen from a list of candidates drawn up by a group of advisers appointed by the company.

It is not clear when that successor would take up the position as an announcement is expected from the group in the next few days; the early announcement means Mr Went is likely to take up his position well before the end-1998 scheduled departure of Mr Kingston.

The successful candidate will oversee Irish Life's attempts to increase its presence in the consolidated financial services market.

Irish Life is one of the bidders for New Ireland and is understood to want to develop as a major financial services group.

Mr Went's wide experience in the banking sector is an obvious indicator of Irish Life's strategic intentions in the wider area of financial services.

Mr Went is currently chief executive of London-based private bankers, the Coutts Group, bankers to the British royalty, which employs 4,000 people and recorded profits of £75 million sterling last year.

Mr Went was previously with Citibank NA in Dublin and Saudi Arabia, and the Ulster Bank group.

He joined Ulster Investment Bank in 1976 as director of banking and was made chief executive in 1982. He rose to the board of Ulster Bank Ltd in early 1984. He subsequently became chief executive of Ulster Bank until 1994. He was president of the Institute of Bankers in 1993.

Mr Went sees his approach to management as a common-sense one and, in his time with Ulster Bank, saw his role as one of changing the culture of a venerable institution by opening up two-way lines of communication with staff to ensure their ideas could find a forum within the bank and to encourage staff not to be afraid of change.

Those same ideas could easily apply to Irish Life, riven by its recent bitter dispute with sales staff over changing work patterns to accommodate a more modern approach to the sale of its products.