In a surprise move, Irish Permanent group treasurer Mr Michael Torpey has resigned from the company to join First Active as treasury director. He is being replaced at Irish Permanent by Mr David Gantly who has been head of treasury at the group since 1994.

Mr Torpey (41) will move to First Active in October when he will join the board of the troubled bank. Industry sources suggested Mr Torpey is making the move because he sees opportunities to develop and expand the First Active treasury operation and because he is joining First Active's board. He will be involved at board level in devising development strategies for the bank.

The latest announcement from First Active follows the appointment of Mr Cormac McCarthy as chief executive of the bank. The appointment of its 37-year-old former chief financial officer to the top job followed a lengthy search for a chief executive to lead the former building society. The search for a chief executive followed the resignation of former group chief executive Mr John Smyth and the failed merger negotiations with Anglo Irish Bank. Mr Torpey's move to First Active is seen as surprising because the First Active treasury operation is considerably smaller than that at Irish Permanent as shown by the differences in the balance sheets of the two operations. With total assets of about €6 million (£4.7 million) the First Active balance sheet compares with total banking assets of about €10 billion at Irish Permanent (the combined Irish Life & Permanent has total assets of about €28 billion).

But sources said Mr Torpey considered the treasury operation at First Active to be in a development phase and saw opportunities to develop its funding and liquidity management operations. Mr Torpey joined the then Irish Permanent Building Society in 1992 from Riada Stockbrokers to set up its treasury operation. In 1995 he was appointed group treasury general manager of Irish Permanent and joined the company's management board. He had previously worked in Allied Irish Investment Bank and in the Department of Finance. Mr Gantly (43) was a director of fixed income at Davy Stockbrokers from 1992 to 1994 when he joined Irish Permanent. He had previously worked in Riada Stockbrokers, Investment Bank of Ireland and Bank of Ireland.

Announcing his appointment, Irish Life & Permanent group chief executive Mr David Went said Mr Gantly had been "a key player in the treasury management team for many years and is ideally suited to bringing the business forward to the next phase of development".