Directors: Chief executive Mr Cormac McCarthy will be one of the big winners in the Royal Bank of Scotland deal.

The First Active boss owned 37,318 shares at the end of last year. These will be worth €231,371.20. Finance director Mr Michael Torpey holds 50,916 shares, worth €315,679.20.

Both also hold options over substantial numbers of shares, according to the most recent annual report.

Yesterday's announcement said these options would be "exercisable as permitted by their existing terms and conditions" but a First Active spokeswoman said all share options would be exercisable under the Royal Bank of Scotland deal although some were not due to kick in until 2005 at the earliest.

Mr McCarthy has options on 480,000 shares on various dates at prices ranging from €1.90 to €3.75 - most at the lower price. These would immediately yield more than €1.8 million.

Mr Torpey's 350,000 options are exercisable on various dates at €2.14 to €3.75, yielding a possible gain of more than €1.2 million.

Company secretary Mr Robert Bergin holds 22,466 shares valued at €139,289.20 and 210,000 share options which, at an average purchase price of €2.95, will net him a profit of €682,500.

Mr McCarthy and Mr Torpey will join the board of Ulster Bank as executive directors following the deal. In their current posts, last year they earned €682,000 and €592,000 respectively. Both have service contracts providing compensation of up to two years' earnings if their contracts are terminated within 12 months following a takeover. Chairman Mr John Callaghan stands to receive a payout of €1.26 million in respect of his 203,090 shares.