The Friday Interview:At 12.30pm today, David Went will step down from the stage of Irish Life & Permanent's (IL&P) annual meeting at Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge, take questions from journalists, mingle with shareholders and take his leave of a company he has led for a decade.

At the age of 60, he is retiring. From here on, life will consist of a little travel with his wife Mary, visits to England to see his two children, a touch of tennis and a few directorships to keep his mind ticking over.

To date, he has accepted a non-executive position on the board of VHI. He is also chairman of the Trinity Foundation and non-executive chairman of The Irish Times board. "I don't intend to be a brass plate director," he says.

After nearly a decade at the helm of IL&P, he departs with praise ringing in his ears. Some of it comes from predictable sources. In IL&P's latest annual report, chairwoman Gillian Bowler describes Went as "a towering influence in the group".

Even Senator Shane Ross, the bête noire of Irish plc bosses, recently praised Minister for Health Mary Harney for her "fine appointment" in persuading Went to join the board of VHI.

Apart from a slight smirk, Went shows no emotion when reminded of the Senator's comments. "We overlapped at college, having joined Trinity at around the same time," Went says. "But I wouldn't be a Shane Ross groupie."

The praise has been hard earned. When Went was appointed as Irish Life's chief executive in 1997, the company was battered and bruised. A high-profile industrial dispute with its sales team had battered morale. Its life and pensions products lacked pzazz and Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) was one of the worst pension performers in town. Its overseas forays to the United States, Hungary and Britain had also yielded little return.

Slowly but surely Went knocked it into shape. IL&P is now Ireland's fourth-biggest financial services group, with a market value of €5.4 billion.

He started by introducing an "Ireland first" strategy. "After 15 years, we were number 187 [ in the US] in terms of life assets," he says. "We weren't focusing on Ireland. It was the early days of the Celtic Tiger; it just didn't make any sense."

Over the 10-year period, Went has flogged practically all the overseas assets, restored Irish Life as the State's leading life group, while ILIM is once again one of the best performing fund managers here.

He has also taken the group into the banking market through the acquisitions of Irish Permanent and TSB. These deals gave him a perfect platform from which to cross-sell Irish Life investment and pension products.

It also made the group one of the State's biggest residential mortgage lenders and the largest provider of car finance. Thanks to the Celtic Tiger, both have been lucrative markets.

Permanent TSB has also gained a foothold in the current accounts market, the final step it needed to take to be considered a "real" bank. Went says it is opening 1,200 current accounts each week, with customers attracted by its no-fees offer. "People see us as a force for competition in the marketplace."

On the slowdown in the property market, Went blames the politicians. "They've made a pig's ear of the housing market with the uncertainty they've created around stamp duty."

He's confident the Irish economy will continue to outperform its European peers in the medium term and says a modest slowdown from the breakneck growth of recent years would be no bad thing.

If he has one regret from his time at IL&P, it is that he never got to acquire Ulster Bank, which he ran for six years during his long stint with NatWest. In spite of IL&P putting a proposed joint bid together with Bank of Ireland, Ulster was bought by Royal Bank of Scotland.

With time on his hands, Went is now looking forward to the challenges that the VHI and The Irish Times will present. "The VHI is a very interesting business that I have been following from afar and the next number of years should be very challenging."

Seán Quinn's entry to the market does not seem to faze him. "VHI has a lot of natural advantages." As a news and current affairs junkie, Went is also excited about his role as chairman of The Irish Times board. "I've always admired The Irish Times. I've been a reader since birth."

His parents were English Protestants. "It was the classic readership profile at the time."

He admits to being a traditionalist in that he prefers reading the paper in print rather than online. "It's partly because I don't have great eyesight."

He reads four newspapers every day - the others being the Irish Independent, the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph.

The Irish Times has been busily expanding its interests of late, buying into Myhome.ie, and taking large stakes in entertainment.ie and the Gazette group. "The plan is to build a diversified media business," Went explains.

To relax, he plays tennis twice a week and loves watching rugby, especially the Six Nations championship. He also plans to make more use of his debentures at the Lords and Oval cricket grounds in London. "It's a pretty nice way to spend a day. The great thing is that you don't really have to concentrate, you can just enjoy the day with a few friends."

He tried golf, but it wasn't his thing. "I played it badly for about five years," he recalls. "I left my clubs behind me in Baltray in 1977. I never went back for them and I never missed them either."

Looking to the future, Went says he can't be sure that AIB, Bank of Ireland and IL&P will have retained their independence. "I find it hard to believe that in five years' time all of us [ AIB, BoI and IL&P] will be here in the same corporate shape.

"The Irish market is a very good market. The only way in is to buy; it's very hard to build. The accepted wisdom was always that cross-border [ financial] mergers don't work, but that has gone out the window."

ON THE RECORD

Name:David Went

Job:Chief executive, Irish Life & Permanent

Age:60

Family:Married to Mary, two children

Career:Spent large part of career with NatWest Group where he was chief executive of Ulster Bank from 1988 to 1994 and of Coutts, bankers to the Queen, for the following three years. Was appointed managing director of Irish Life in 1997. Chairman of The Irish Times Ltd.

Something that might surprise:He used to play poker, although never sported the dark shades. "Not at all, I wasn't good enough for that."

Something you might expect:He is a member of the exclusive Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Appian Way.

Interests:Plays tennis and loves watching rugby, especially the Six Nations championship.

Why he's in the news:Retires today as head of IL&P after nearly a decade at the helm.