Bank of Ireland's chief executive Brian Goggin has said the recent moderation in house prices is a positive development. He was speaking after the bank held its annual general meeting in Dublin today.
Mr Goggin said the company was performing strongly despite the recent fall in its share price.
He told shareholders 47% of the bank's lending was in mortgages, and its home loans were extremely safe, adding that in the past year the bank had repossessed only two homes.
Mr Goggin welcomed the slowdown in housing as helping to make homes more affordable. He also said he would encourage the media to be careful to report in a balanced way on the housing market.
Meanwhile, the bank's Governor Richard Burrows defended a 58% rise in pay for Mr Goggin, who was awarded €4m last year. He said one quarter of the package was performance-related and financial results of the bank were very strong. Mr Goggin told reporters his pay package was set by others and he did not know if he would earn as much again this year.
In a statement ahead of the meeting, Bank of Ireland said it continued to generate good volume and earnings growth in the first three months of its financial year, but the rate of growth had slowed because of rising interest rates in the UK and Ireland.
The bank said it was comfortable with its previous forecasts for low double digit earnings per share (EPS) growth.
It said the economic environment in the UK and Ireland was 'favourable', but reiterated that higher rates had seen volumes fall compared with the previous year.
'In Ireland employment, retail sales and industrial production remain robust and strong domestic demand continues to underpin economic growth,' it said, adding that UK economic growth is "solid", underpinned by consumer spending.
In the bank's preliminary results announcement in May it guided low double-digit percentage underlying EPS growth to March 2008 from a base of 144.6 cent in March 2007.
'Taking into account our business performance in the first quarter of our financial year we remain comfortable with this guidance', it said today.
Bank of Ireland shares closed down five cent at €15 in Dublin.
