The chief executive of the Irish Nationwide Building Society, Michael Fingleton, is to step down at the end of this month.
The formal announcement of Mr Fingleton's retirement was expected after he had come under pressure to resign over a €1m bonus.
Mr Fingleton's move follows pressure from the Government on Irish Nationwide to change the structure of the building society's board and how it operates at executive level.
His reign at Irish Nationwide has been controversial, and just last week he agreed to return a €1m bonus he was paid by the building society last year, despite being legally entitled to it.
Irish Nationwide said that non-executive director Daniel Kitchen will become non-executive chairman of the Society, having turned down the position of CEO because of the Government's proposal to cap top bankers' pay.
The Covered Institution Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) had recommended a cap of €360,000 for the Nationwide boss.
But, a statement from Irish Nationwide says that while the search for a new CEO goes on, Mr Kitchen will assume the position of chief executive in the short term.
The building society board also said it hopes to amend the rules at its next Annual General Meeting to increase the number of directors from eight to ten. It thanked Mr Fingleton for his 'enormous and unique' contribution to the society over the past 37 years.
