Bank Of Ireland has completed a shake-up of senior management at its insurance and wealth management business, appointing veteran banker Gabriel Bannigan as managing director of its private banking unit.

Bannigan takes over from Seán Ó Murchú, who was appointed head of Bank of Ireland Life last year. Bannigan joined the bank in 1987 and left briefly in 2007 to head up Bank of Scotland’s ill-fated push into branch banking.

He returned a year later, taking responsibility for Bank of Ireland’s 70 branches in Dublin and the northeast.

Bannigan moves to the private bank just weeks after its acquisition of the investment firm Covestone Asset Management, which has about €100m under management.

Top-level changes last year saw the surprise departure of Sean Casey as managing director of New Ireland Assurance, the bank’s broker-based life insurance business.

He has been replaced on an interim basis by Mick Sweeney and a reshuffled management team.