AIB chief executive Mr Tom Mulcahy, who retires next month, has made a profit of almost £2 million (€2.54 million) on share options. Mr Mulcahy bought 256,728 shares at an option price of €4.17, sold 168,810 of these at €13.35 and retained the balance.

His cash profit on the sale of the shares was £940,000 while the paper profit on the shares he has retained is £940,000. Mr Mulcahy now holds more than 460,000 shares which are worth £4.9 million at the current level.