Anglo Irish to name Australia's Aynsley as CEO-report

Nationalised Irish lender AngloIrish Bank is expected to name Australian banker Mike Aynsley asits new chief executive shortly, The Irish Times reported on Saturday, without citing any sources.

Anglo, which has become a symbol for the decline of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger' economy and was taken over in January,has been without a chief executive since David Drumm resigned last December after a string of scandals.

Anglo also posted the worst losses in the country's banking history in May, when a 4.1 billion euro ($5.85 billion)first-half pretax loss forced the government to pour a further 4 billion euros into the struggling lender.

The Irish Times reported that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and the country's financial regulator both had to approve the appointment but said industry sources expected them to do so.

The newspaper added that Aynsley, a former head of capital markets at National Australia Bank who has worked in the Asian and Australian banking industries, will be the first external appointment to Anglo Irish Bank's executive team

A spokeswoman for Anglo Irish declined to comment on the report.