Ulster Bank has appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO), with Charles McManus stepping into the role.

Formerly CFO of Royal Bank of Canada Europe, Mr McManus will also take a seat on the board of the bank.

Ulster Bank’s chief executive Cormac McCarthy welcomed Mr McManus’s appointment, and said his “significant” experience would serve the bank well as it managed the long-term recovery of its business.

The bank last month posted a loss of £761 million in its core business in 2010, almost double the previous year's figure. Ulster Bank, which is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, took a bad debt charge of £3.8 billion on loans of £51 billion last year, double the loan losses at the bank the previous year.

Commercial property loans accounted for £2.7 billion of the bad debt charge, compared with £1.3 billion a year earlier, said the bank. Some £1.9 billion related to loans on property development. Most developer loans, about £9 billion, are in the non-core business.