Eugene Sheehy earned €2.436 million during his first full year as AIB's chief executive, according to the bank's 2006 annual report. Caroline Maddenreports.

A bonus of €1.3 million was the largest component of Mr Sheehy's remuneration package last year. The bonus represented over 150 per cent of his basic salary of €860,000.

His taxable benefits came in at €52,000, while contributions to the company's defined-benefit pension scheme made on his behalf came to €224,000.

Overall, Mr Sheehy's total earnings almost doubled from €1.1 million the previous year.

However, he only took up his position as chief executive in May 2005.

AIB had a bumper year in 2006, with profit levels jumping by 25 per cent.

Mr Sheehy's fellow executive director, Colm Doherty, managing director of AIB Capital Markets, also saw a significant increase in his pay.

His total remuneration package in 2006 was just shy of €2 million - which included a bonus of €1.2 million - compared to a total package of €1.551 million the previous year.

The bank's third executive director, John O'Donnell, who holds the position of group finance director, earned €1.075 million, which included a bonus of €500.000, bringing the total bonuses paid to all three executive directors last year to €3 million.

AIB's policy in relation to executive director remunerations aims to "reinforce a high-performance and ethical culture", the report said, with remuneration packages determined by a committee of four non-executive directors - John B McGuckian, Don Godson, Dermot Gleeson and Jim O'Leary.

Mr Gleeson, who is chairman of the company, received fees of €408,000 for the year, up from €375,000 in 2005.

At the end of 2006, a total of €7.4 million in loans was outstanding to AIB's key management personnel, including seven directors and five other senior executive officers.

This equates to an average loan of €616,667 held by each of the 12 key staff.

The director with the largest shareholding in the bank by the end of 2006 was Robert Wilmers, chief executive of AIB's US associate M&T Bank, which has been affected by recent problems in the US sub-prime mortgage market.

Mr Wilmers holds more than 400,000 AIB shares, almost four times more than Mr Sheehy, who owns 105,284 shares in the bank. A fee of €36,023 was paid by AIB last year to M&T - in which it holds a 24 per cent stake - in respect of Mr Wilmers's directorship.

Former director Gary Kennedy received €738,675 as compensation for loss of office.