Former Bank of Scotland Ireland CEO Mark Duffy, who quit the bank in March 2009 after spearheading its push into the boomtime retail banking market

BANK of Scotland Ireland (BoSI) paid €2.75m to departing directors last year, including former chief executive Mark Duffy.

Duffy quit the bank, now owned by the UK's Lloyds Banking Group, at the end of March last year. He spearheaded BoSI's push into the Irish retail banking market at the height of the property boom – a move which ended in failure in February when the bank announced the closure of its Halifax brand.

According to BoSI's 2009 accounts, four directors quit during the year. However, it is believed the bulk of the €2.75m went to Duffy and Richard McDonnell, the bank's former chief operating officer, who left last July.

After leaving BoSI, Duffy set up Asset Resolution Corporation to buy distressed property loans from Irish banks. The venture, which is backed by investment vehicle Warren Private Clients, has yet to announce if it has bought any loans.

According to the accounts, Duffy had outstanding loans from BoSI of €3m at the end of 2009, about half the total amount of directors' loans. The bank said that loans to directors included mortgages, credit card debt and personal loans.

The bank's chairman, Maurice Pratt, had outstanding loans of €1.39m at the end of last year. Payments to directors in 2009, excluding compensation to those who left during the year, amounted to €4.1m, up from €3.8m in 2008.

BoSI made a loss of €2.9bn in 2009 after taking an impairment charge of €3.2bn against its loan book. The Sunday Tribune revealed earlier this month that Lloyds had to pump an additional €1bn of capital into its Irish unit. BoSI began closing the Halifax branch network this month and is shedding 750 jobs from its Irish workforce.