Road safety chief Noel Brett has been given the task of steering a course for the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) in the coming years after being appointed yesterday as its new chief executive.

Mr Brett has stepped down from his position as chief executive of the State-funded Road Safety Authority (RSA) and will take up his new role within the next three months.

He succeeds Pat Farrell as head of the industry representative group, which lobbies on behalf of 70 financial institutions here.

Mr Farrell left the IBF earlier this year to join Bank of Ireland as head of its group communications and government affairs.

Mr Brett has been chief executive of the RSA since 2005 and helped to shape the agenda around road safety with the introduction of a raft of penalty point offences, the expansion of national car testing and measures to crack down on drink driving.

These initiatives helped to reduce the number of road deaths in Ireland to 162 last year, the lowest on record.

His appointment will come as a surprise given his lack of experience in the financial services sector, especially when the main banks in Ireland are striving to return to profitability and are under significant pressure to deal with the issue of mortgage arrears.

Prior to joining the RSA, Mr Brett was assistant chief executive with the Western Health Board from 2001. He also held a number of senior positions in social services with local authorities in the UK from 1989 to 1999.