DUBLIN: Senior Bank of Ireland executive Mick Sweeney is leaving the business, staff at the bank have been told. Mr Sweeney led the bank’s wealth-management division since 2010, before moving to insurance unit New Ireland as interim managing director last year. Liam McLoughlin, CEO of the bank’s Irish retail division, said Mr Sweeney “enjoyed a distinguished career serving in a number of senior roles”. Mr Sweeney is understood to be exploring opportunities regarding companies coming to Ireland on foot of Brexit. He has a background in asset management, investment banking, and insurance. Previously he was the chief executive of Bank of Ireland’s global markets business. Mr Sweeney’s departure comes shortly before CEO Richie Boucher leaves. He is being replaced by Francesca McDonagh, HSBC’s head of retail and wealth management for the UK and Europe, with effect from October 1.
The bank has recently been looking to buy portfolios of mortgages as an alternative source of growth, with the number of new mortgages constrained by supply. It has agreed to buy a portfolio of mortgages from so-called vulture fund Lone Star. Mortgage holders have received letters in recent weeks saying an agreement had been reached between the bank and the Lone Star entity Shoreline. “Over the last few years we’ve acquired several books across both mortgages and SMEs, and we continue to be in the market for good quality performing assets, where opportunities emerge,” a Bank of Ireland spokesman said.
