David Drumm, chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, on Friday became the third board casualty at the lender when he resigned following revelations the bank had hidden €87m (£81m) of loans made to its chairman Sean Fitzpatrick. Mr Fitzpatrick’s resignation was announced late on Thursday, along with that of Lar Bradshaw, a non-executive.

Mr Fitzpatrick said he had acted on his own initiative when he transferred the loans temporarily to another bank in each of the past eight years. Bankers said this was done to avoid the requirement under company law that loans extended to directors must be disclosed in the accounts.