The
Bank of Ireland is searching for a new chief executive after the resignation of
Michael Soden, who has admitted using his work PC to access pornographic
websites.
Soden’s
surfing habits were discovered during routine maintenance work on his PC by IT
staff.
Soden,
who had been in charge of the Bank of
Ireland since 2002, issued a personal statement announcing his resignation as group
CEO on the company’s website.
"I
have taken this decision for personal reasons," he said. "This arises
from access by me on my PC to internet sites that contain content that
infringed the group’s policy on these matters.
"The
content accessed was not illegal but did contain links to material of an adult
nature. I now accept that accessing this material was inappropriate and would
cause embarrassment to the Bank of Ireland and to the people who work
there."
Before
taking over at the Bank of Ireland, Soden worked for a number of major
international banks, and increased profitability during his time with the
company.
The
bank’s board, which said it had accepted Soden’s resignation “with regret”, is
due to make an announcement on his successor later this week.
