This year will herald changes at the helm of several top financial services companies. At Bank of Ireland, Mr Pat Molloy steps down as group chief executive on January 31st after a spectacular seven years. He will be replaced by the current deputy group chief executive, Mr Maurice Keane, whose current position will be taken by the chief executive of the retail division, Mr Pat McDowell.
At Ulster Bank, Belfast-based Ronnie Kells will step down in May after four years as chief executive during which the bank has expanded rapidly. Mr Kells will be replaced by Mr Martin Wilson. Irish Life chief executive David Kingston will retire at the end of March after 14 challenging years at the life assurance group. He will be replaced by Mr David Went who came to Irish Life yesterday as chief executive designate from the National Westminster Bank Group. He will take over as chief executive on April 1st.
Mr Molloy leaves Bank of Ireland in peak condition. The share price is at an all-time high, having doubled in 1997, pre-tax profits are at record levels and a clear geographic diversification strategy is in place.
When Mr Molloy was appointed group chief executive in February 1991, heavy losses in the US and Britain were hitting group profits. The group reported pre-tax profits of £53.5 million for the year to end May 1991, earnings per share of 6.8p and had a market capitalisation of about £600 million.
The latest results - for the half year to end September 1997 - show profits of £251 million. Profits of about £510 million and earnings per share of about 66p are forecast for the full year - just under 10 times the level at which Mr Molloy took control.
The milestones of his term include turning around the US and British operations. In the US he took the innovative route of buying his way out of trouble with the acquisition of the Amoskeag and Bank East operations in New Hampshire.
In 1995, Bank of Ireland merged its US operations with Citizens Financial group - owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland - to take a 23.5 per cent stake in a larger banking operation. In Britain, he expanded with the £600 million sterling acquisition of the Bristol and West building society.
Mr Molloy will retain a non-executive position within the group as chairman of the Bristol and West subsidiary in Britain.
Meanwhile, Mr Kells leaves Ulster Bank a larger and more broadly-based institution than it was when he became chief executive in 1994. During his first year as chief executive the bank passed the £100 million profits level for the first time. Profits have continued to rise.
At the end of 1994, Ulster Bank bought NCB Stockbrokers, extending its range of services for clients. It opened its 100th branch in the Republic in December 1994. In the following year he oversaw a restructuring of the group, creating Ulster Bank Markets to look after corporate, fund management, stockbroking and treasury business.
Later in 1995 the new Ulster Bank Group centre in George's Quay in Dublin was opened to house a range of bank divisions, services and administrative functions. A similar centre for group operations in Northern Ireland is currently under construction in Belfast.
One of the landmarks of Mr Kells time at Ulster Bank has been the challenge he mounted to the proposed takeover of TSB Bank by the National Australia Bank. Ulster has expressed strong interest in acquiring TSB despite the announcement four years ago that the TSB trustees wanted to accept an offer from NAB.
Mr David Kingston has been managing director of Irish Life for 14 years. He joined the then State-owned life assurance group in 1968 as an actuary and served in a number of positions before becoming managing director at the age of 40 in 1983.
He lead the group through the difficult and unchartered privatisation process in 1991. Later he started the geographic diversification of Irish Life with the move into the US market when he bought Interstate in 1988. This was followed by the acquisition of First Variable in 1994 and Guaranteed Reserve in 1997. The US now accounts for about one third of group business.
Mr Kingston broadened the group's base from traditional life assurance products into mortgages with Irish Life Finance, new savings products and tracker bonds. He started the difficult process of reorganising the group sales and service structure to bring it more into line with customer needs in a changing market. Irish Life's bid for New Ireland and its interest in the TSB Bank are evidence of Mr Kingston's recognition of the need to expand and broaden its operations in an ever-consolidating financial services market.
At the end of Mr Kingston's term, Irish Life had a market capitalisation or worth of £1,127 million compared with the £483 million valuation at its flotation in 1991.
