The chief executive officer of the Bermuda Commercial Bank (BCB) is to stand down, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Peter Horton is to leave the bank at the end of March.

Alan Gilbertson, chairman of the bank, one of four in Bermuda and the only specialist in corporate and private wealth clients, said: “On behalf of the board and staff of BCB, we say a fond farewell to Peter Horton, who will leave us at the end of March.”

He added: “Peter was instrumental in the successful implementation of the bank’s new core banking platform, T24, and internet bank application NetTeller.”

Mr Horton is also credited with spearheading the acquisition of the Private and Commercial Finance Group last September and strengthened the bank’s management team.

Mr Gilbertson said: “We are appreciative of his efforts and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Mr Horton said he wanted to return to the UK to spend more time with his young family.

He added: “I am appreciative of the board’s comments and am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with the team here at BCB.”

Mr Gilbertson said the bank had launched “a global search” for a replacement CEO and said he was “confident that a successor will be found in due course”.

Mr Horton took over the top management job at the bank in late 2013 on a five-year contract, which means he was due to leave the job at the end of 2018.

Mr Horton said after he took up the BCB job: “It is a contract I am really happy to make because of the potential of BCB — and it might be a longer commitment.”

He joined BCB after a globe-trotting banking career working across Africa, also ran a bank in the Caribbean and took up his first CEO position at the Bank of Maldives, in the Indian Ocean island chain.

For the financial year ended September 2015, BCB recorded net income of $8 million, down 13 per cent from the year before.