Chief executive leaves Ulster Bank

Ulster Bank has announced its chief executive Cormac McCarthy is to leave the company after 10 years.

The former First Active boss is also to leave his position as deputy chief executive of Ulster Bank's parent group RBS' retail division as soon as a successor has been found.

Ulster Bank has been badly hit by property-related losses and has received substantial cash injections from its UK parent to compensate for hundreds of millions of euro in writedowns on its loan book.

In the past year it has implemented a redundancy programme aimed at reducing its workforce by 1,000 people.