Bank of Ireland has appointed Francesca McDonagh, a senior banker at HSBC, as its new chief executive to replace Richie Boucher. McDonagh is head of retail banking and wealth management for HSBC in the UK and Europe and has been with the global banking giant for 20 years, holding various positions in several countries. She is expected to take up the chief executive role in October at Ireland’s second-largest bank. She will be the first woman to be chief executive of Bank of Ireland, and her appointment immediately makes her one of the country’s most high-profile female chief executives. She has worked as regional head of retail banking and wealth management for HSBC in the Middle East and North Africa and oversaw the acquisition of Lloyds Bank in the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, she moved to Hong Kong to run HSBC’s personal financial services business.
