22 February 2007
Alliance and Leicester boss Richard Pym yesterday took the City by surprise, saying
he planned to quit as chief executive after five years in the top job.
Mr Pym, who has been with the mortgage bank
for 15 years, made the announcement at the end of the company's annual results presentation to analysts.
No mention of his plans was made in the company's results statement when it was released to the Stock Exchange at 7am - in which the bank said pre-tax profits rose 4 per cent to £569m - and a formal announcement was hastily put out mid-morning.
Mr Pym said: "
I announced it like this because I wanted the results to come first. My own personal position is quite minor compared to that of Alliance & Leicester. I will be 58 later this year and have always said I wanted to retire before I reached 60." Mr Pym, who earned £1.2m last year, said the company had appointed headhunters to find a replacement but said that it was likely that he would be in charge for the group's interim results statement
in six months time.
He will not receive a pay-off. "
This is my own decision and when I retire I will be treated like any other Alliance & Leicester pensioner. At the moment, I am focused on running the bank, and will continue to do so until a successor is found. Other than that, I have no burning ambitions other than selling programmes for Arsenal."
Mr Pym is seen as having steadied the ship after the turbulence the bank endured during the reign of his predecessor, John Windeler.
However, analysts have repeatedly criticised the bank for what they see as its slow growth.
