Irish Life and Permanent chairman Gillian Bowler has announced that she will retire next year following the appointment of a successor.

She is the last of the bank chairmen who were in office when the financial crisis struck in 2008.

Ms Bowler, who has been chairman since 2004, told the company's board and the Central Bank of the decision yesterday. The company has started the process to find her successor and a shortlist of eight to nine overseas candidates has been drawn up, she said.

She intends to stay on until her successor is appointed. A new chairman would be identified "as early as possible in 2011", the company said. Her six-year term expired last May but she agreed to stay on for another year.

She said that it would not be good for corporate governance at IL&P if she remained chairman for another year.

IL&P chief executive Kevin Murphy said in a statement that Ms Bowler had "played a very important role in helping the group to navigate the crisis of recent years and I don't think any chairman of an Irish financial institution enjoyed a better relationship with their small shareholders.

"They appreciated her for her plain speaking and accessibility and she always respected them as the key to the group's ongoing success," he said.

Ms Bowler had come under pressure to stand down in February 2009 following the disclosure that IL&P had supported Anglo Irish Bank with short-term deposits of €7 billion over the end of Anglo's financial year end in September 2008. The transactions made Anglo look much healthier than it was on the reporting date for the bank's accounts.

The transactions led to the resignation of IL&P chief executive Denis Casey, finance director Peter FitzPatrick and head of treasury David Gantly. Ms Bowler, who has said she was unaware of the transactions at the time, offered her resignation in February 2009 but it was declined by the board.

In March 2009 Ms Bowler apologised unreservedly for the deposits at Anglo, saying they were wrong and that IL&P was "deeply sorry" for them.