Treasury Holdings banks on Harte's experience

Pramit Ghose's move to the top job at the newly-merged Hibernian and Norwich Union fund management operations was not the only big move in the investment management business this week.

AIB's investment management arm has also lost its managing director, Maurice Harte, who is moving out of the industry altogether to become chief executive of Treasury Holdings, the property group run by Johnnie Ronan and Richard Barrett.

Given that Maurice Harte was running a €13 billion investment book, it must have taken an extremely attractive package by Messrs Ronan and Barrett to prise him away from AIBIM, and no doubt Treasury equity plays some part in Harte's overall package.

AIBIM was one of the most attractive players in the property market with its property man John Bruder featuring regularly in many of the big commercial deals. AIBIM's (and Maurice Harte's) position in the property market was cited by Johnnie Ronan as one of the reasons why Treasury recruited the AIBIM boss "and his experience in the property market will be a major asset in realising our future growth plan".

Where exactly Maurice Harte will fit into the Treasury framework is not clear, but industry sources expect him to look after Treasury's day-to-day operations, with the Ronan/ Barrett duo becoming more the strategic planners for the property group.

Maurice Harte's move has, of course, created a golden opportunity for Eileen Fitz patrick to show her stuff as the new managing director of AIBIM. In her new job, she will be one of the highest profile and prominent in the Irish financial services industry, running a €13 billion book.

Until now Ann Powell, who runs Eagle Star's investment management operations, was probably the highest-ranked woman in the sector but Eileen Fitzpatrick's job as managing director at AIBIM - probably number three in the fund management hierarchy - is a step up from that.

Pramit Ghose's move to the merged Hibernian/Norwich Union operations means that he will be running a book of around €8 billion - number five in the Irish pecking order. Pramit is likely to make a push to boost Hibernian/Norwich Union's presence in group pensions, where neither has become a significant force, lagging well behind the the likes of Irish Life, Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank.