AIB has appointed Steven Meadows to the newly created post of director of operations. Mr Meadows, who has worked with Citibank in Dublin, will report to AIB's group chief executive, Michael Buckley.

He will also be a member of the bank's group executive committee, which runs the various divisions. In a statement yesterday, AIB said Mr Meadows will be responsible for "defining and implementing a management strategy to meet AIB Group's current and emerging business needs."

He will be responsible for operating, manufacturing and developing all of AIB's main processing activities. He will also be responsible for all aspects of IT infrastructure and applications development and for its contact centres, credit support and payment systems.

AIB said Mr Meadows would have a clear objective to reduce operational risk and to meet demanding service quality and efficiency targets. He also will be responsible for the design, implementation and management of AIB's overall operations and technology infrastructure. This involves a plan "to optimise the benefits of commonality and economies of scale across AIB Group", according to the bank.

It expects that this newly-created role will contribute significantly towards the enhancement of shareholder value.

Mr Meadows is a graduate of Clemson University, South Carolina and has a post-graduate qualification in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He has worked with Ford and AT&T. From 1997 until 2003, he held a variety of senior executive positions with Citigroup. He has most recently been executive director, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. He takes up his new role on June 1st.