THE FORMER director of finance at Anglo Irish Bank, Matt Moran, has taken up a new role as chief financial officer in Luxembourg at a wealth management company for high net-worth investors.

Mr Moran, who stepped down from State-owned Anglo shortly before Christmas, has joined Lombard Assurance International, which is part of the Friends Provident Group and a specialist in tax planning for wealthy investors.

Calls to Mr Moran seeking comment on his new role at Lombard were not returned yesterday.

Mr Moran is understood to have repaid a large part of a €2 million loan owed to Anglo at the time of his departure from the bank.

As chief financial officer of Anglo in the run-up to its nationalisation in January 2009, he played a key role presenting the bank’s results for the year to September 2008. He described the bank’s capital base as “one of the strongest in the sector” in a results presentation.

The bank has subsequently received €4 billion in State funds to recapitalise the bank after record losses wiped out the bank’s capital reserves. It is expected to require several billion euro more from the Government.

Mr Moran, a chartered accountant, joined Anglo in 2002 and became chief financial officer in 2004. He was appointed director of group finance in February 2009, a month after the bank was taken into State ownership following the controversy over Seán FitzPatrick’s hidden loans.

Lombard’s international sales, particularly in Italy and Switzerland, hit a record high last year and were a key driver of business for Friends Provident as life and pension sales in the fourth quarter of last year rose by 21 per cent.

The company restructured its wealth-management division before Christmas, grouping its marketing, legal and tax departments into a team of 50 lawyers, tax experts, economists and actuaries.