Alliance & Leicester (A&L) poaches chairman from Ulster Bank

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) now have their new chairman, Alan Gillespie, who they have poached from the Ulster Bank; they hope that the new chairman will help them to stabilize as the current outlook is looking very tough.

Gillespie, will take over as chairman in September, he is a great addition to A&L as he has extensive experience in the commercial, retail and also investment banking, he also worked with Goldman Sachs for 14 years, in their corporate advisory and mergers & acquisition unit.

Derek Higgs, who was Alliance & Leicester’s previous chairman sadly died in April, A&L shares have been dropping since last year by 79 percent. The banks funding costs are up while earnings are still falling; this is due to the current housing market slowdown in the UK.

A&L shares were up by 7.8% at to 231.5 pence at 9.25 a.m., many analysts believe that it was because of the appointment of an experienced banker which helped this result.

Reuters believe that A&L profits will fall to £195 million by the end of the year; this would be half of the £399 that the bank managed last year.