Trouble Irish bank Allied Irish , has appointed ex-HSBC director David Hodgkinson as its new interim executive chairman.Hodgkinson will head the group until the appointment of a Group Chief Executive. Previously, he had been Group Chief Operating Officer for and Member of the Group Management Board of HSBC Holdings from May 2006 until his retirement from the company in December 2008. Since leaving HSBC, Hodgkinson has been on the advisory board of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the advisory board on Saudi Arabia for BAE Systems.