Bank of Ireland losses near €1bn
Wednesday November 04 2009
Bank of Ireland has suffered almost one billion euro losses in six months this year.
The lender made a pre-tax loss of 979 million euro for the half year to the end of September, compared with a profit of 647 million euro last year.
Across the group more than 1.8 billion euro of loans are impaired.
Chief executive Richie Boucher gave a gloomy review with only a small suggestion that the Irish economy was turning a corner.
"The level of economic activity across our main markets has contracted and the credit environment deteriorated," he said. "Economic conditions in Ireland were particularly challenging."
Mr Boucher added: "There are some indications of a slowdown in the pace of economic decline in the UK and to some extent in Ireland."
Bank of Ireland was expected to pass on 16 billion euro worth of loans to Ireland's so-called bad bank, the National Assets Management Agency (Nama), at a discount.
In its six-monthly review, the bank said a discount of 30% was being explored but this figure could be reduced based on industry valuations.
Mr Boucher added: "Our impairment charge in the six months to 30 September 2009 of 1.8 billion euro reflects significant deterioration in asset quality in our property and construction portfolio, primarily landbank and development in Ireland."
The bank repeated forecasts for loan losses to top 6.9 billion euro in the three years to March 2011.
