Mike Soden got 2.7m from Bank of Ireland after he resigned in a blaze of controversy two years ago. Gary Kennedy has done even better. AIB's annual report, published on Tuesday, reveals that its former finance director walked away with 2.9m, including a 2.1m pension top up, for six months' work last year. And there is more to come.

Pending shareholder approval, he will pocket another 580,000 in compensation for loss of office plus 150,000 to cover legal bills as well as other payments for pension and tax advice.

Shareholders have every right to question what's going on. Everybody accepts that boardroom shake ups are part and parcel of business life but must they cost so much?

Given the bizarre circumstances, Soden's departure was always going to be messy and Bank of Ireland described his severance package as being "in settlement of potential litigation". Gary Kennedy's departure and the huge severance package is harder to fathom, especially as he is staying on with AIB as a part-time advisor for another two years, after which he bows out at age 50 on a pension worth 200,000 a year.

The annual report fails to explain why he got so much. Neither does it explain why Kennedy racked up so much in legal bills or why AIB is picking up the tab.

Perhaps he felt squeezed out when the bank recruited outsider Steve Meadows to the new job of director for operations and technology last year. The ex Citigroup whizz kid muscled in on Kennedy's territory, taking over his enterprise technology brief.

This still left Kennedy with the the finance director's job, which is usually more than enough for one man at other banks. But as we have learned many times in the past, AIB is not like other banks.