Former top AIB executive Gary Kennedy named chair of Goodbody Stockbrokers

Gary Kennedy, a former senior executive with AIB, has been named chairman of Goodbody Stockbrokers, which the banking group repurchased last year after selling the business at the height of the financial crisis in 2011.

Mr Kennedy, who served as group director for finance and enterprise technology at AIB before leaving the bank in 2005, will take up the role at Goodbody with immediate effect, the stockbroking firm said in a statement on Thursday. He succeeds Michael Somers, the one-time National Treasury Management Agency CEO, who chaired Goodbody for 11 years,.

Mr Kennedy is currently chairman of Dublin-based sandwich maker Greencore and a non-executive director at both London-listed bathroom and kitchen products group Norcros and Focus Ireland, a homeless charity.

Goodbody chief executive Martin Tormey said Mr Kennedy’s “wealth of experience and excellent track record which will be crucial as we look to significantly grow the business as part of AIB Group”.

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“We have ambitious plans as we enter this new chapter of our company’s development and this appointment reflects that,” he said.

Last September, AIB completed the purchase of Goodbody for €138 million, including the stockbroking and wealth management group’s €56 million of surplus cash, in a deal that protected bonuses for staff of the securities firm even as the bank remains subject to a ban on variable pay that has been in existence since it received a bailout during the financial crisis.

The lender’s rival, Bank of Ireland, this week completed its €427 million repurchase of Davy, a decade and a half after selling the stockbroking and wealth management firm to its management and staff. The deal was agreed in the middle of last year as Davy grappled with the aftermath of a bond deal scandal that led to a €4.13 million Central Bank fine.