Colin Hunt will bring continuity and a wealth of government contacts to the top job at AIB

Shock and awe was the response of many last October when Bernard Byrne announced he was defecting from AIB to become the number two man at Davy Stockbrokers. There was no surprise on Friday evening when the bank, still 71 per cent owned by taxpayers, announced he would be replaced next year by Colin Hunt.

One well-known watcher of the Irish banking sector tweeted that it was a “top-drawer” appointment. Hunt is not ...