Three directors of Anglo Irish Bank have made combined paper profits of more than £700,000 after buying Anglo shares at option prices. The biggest gain was notched up by the chief executive, Mr Sean FitzPatrick, who made a paper gain of £339,000 after buying 300,000 shares at an option price of 51p. This brings Mr FitzPatrick's stake in Anglo to 2.75 million shares or just over 1 per cent of the total.

Two other directors, Mr Peter Killen and Mr William Barrett, have each made a paper profit of more than £180,000 after exercising options over 137,436 shares at 31.86p each.