First Maryland appoints head

First Maryland Bancorp (FMB), the US subsidiary of AIB, has moved to deepen its management structure with the appointment of a new chief operating officer.

Ms Susan Keating will become president and chief operating officer of the bank from January 11th. She takes over from Mr Frank Bramble, who was recently appointed chief executive of AIB's US division and a director of the AIB group. AIB's US division consists of First Maryland Bancorp which includes the Dauphin Deposit Corporation and York Bank as well as the AIB operation in New York.

Following his promotion to replace Mr Jerry Casey, who retires next year, Mr Bramble decided to cede his position as president of First Maryland Bancorp in order to focus on his new responsibilities.

Ms Keating will be responsible for FMB's corporate, retail, trust and investment management businesses and for marketing, operations and information technology. She will join the FMB board of directors.

Ms Keating joined FMB in January 1996 from Nationsbank of Maryland, where she was chief executive. Following AIB's £840 million acquisition of Dauphin Deposit Corporation in 1997 Ms Keating was appointed president and chief executive of Dauphin. Before that she was head of retail banking and an executive vice-president at FMB.

Her appointment as chief operating officer of FMB was recommended by Mr Bramble and approved by the FMB board this week. She will report to Mr Bramble.

In other senior appointments at FMB the chief financial officer, Mr Jerome Evans, will become vice-chairman of the bank. He will be responsible for all financial, treasury and administrative activities. He will report to Mr Bramble. Mr Paul Shannon is to be president of the Pennsylvania banking region and he will report to Ms Keating. In another development in AIB's international banking operations, the group is understood to have been shortlisted as one of four international bidders for a 52 per cent stake in the Polish bank Pekao. Market sources said the stake being sold by the government was worth about £650 million. Bank Pekao is one of Poland's largest banks, with 630 branches.

AIB already operates in the Polish market through its subsidiary Poznan-based WBK. The bank declined to comment yesterday on "speculation" about a possible bid for Pekao.