Eight directors of Royal Bank of Scotland’s former Dublin-based aviation leasing business shared a pot of $6.7 million (€5.1 million) in salaries, bonuses and pension payments last year, new figures show.

According to accounts just filed by RBS Aerospace, the firm’s pretax profits declined by 12 per cent from $204.3 million to $179.1 million in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The firm, which has its headquarters in Dublin, recorded the drop in pretax profits after revenue fell by 5.7 per cent from $654.8 million to $617.4 million.

Four of the eight directors are Irish: chief executive Peter Barrett, solicitor Catherine Ennis, banker Barry Flannery and bank official David Swan.

The firm is one of the top five commercial airline lessors worldwide by scale and earlier this year RBS sold it to Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui for more than $7.3 billion.