New chief for Anglo Irish bank

Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised in January

Australian banker Mike Aynsley has been appointed as the new chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank.

The Dublin-based bank has been without a chief executive since David Drumm resigned last December after a string of scandals.

The bank was nationalised in January and has become a symbol for the decline of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy.

Mr Aynsley, a former head of capital markets at National Australia Bank will lead the restructuring of Anglo.

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said that Mr Aynsley was an important appointment for Anglo, in what are challenging times for all financial institutions.

The Minister added that Anglo's restructuring plan, which will set out the future strategy for the bank, will be submitted to the EU Commission for approval by the end of November.

Mr Aynsley is in his 50s and is from Sydney.

He most recently worked with the Asian Development Bank in south east Asia in financial sector development, risk management, liquidity management and governance risk assessment.

He will begin work on 7 September.

Donal O'Connor will revert to the position of Chairman, having held the role of Executive Chairman since February.

Anglo reported the biggest loss in Irish corporate history this year when it made a loss of 4.1bn euros in the six months to March on the back of large impairments on its property loans to developers.