Irish Life managing director designate, Mr David Went, has a large number of good reasons to drive the life assurance company forward. Some 275,000 to be precise. That is the number of options he now holds to buy Irish Life shares. Mr Went, who will take over as managing director of Irish Life at the end of March when Mr David Kingston retires, was appointed to the Irish Life board this week. As part of his remuneration and incentive package he has been granted options to buy 275,000 Irish Life shares at 401p per share.

With the shares now racing ahead in buoyant markets, Mr Went is already in line for a paper profit of about £88,000 if he exercises his options and sells his shares. But under the rules of the scheme he cannot exercise those options for three years. They are exercisable between January 5th, 2001, and January 5th, 2008. That means he will be more interested in ensuring a strong share price in the medium to longer term.

To ensure that the share price continues to rise he will have to make sure that Irish Life achieves profitable growth. In rapidly consolidating financial services markets, Mr Went will have to examine the company's best growth options. As a former banker he may be interested in forming an alliance with a bank or making a bid for a bank.

Mr Went is a former chief executive of Ulster Bank and Ulster Investment Bank. He joined Irish Life from the Coutts Group, the international private banking arm of the NatWest Group, where he was chief executive.