National Irish Bank has reported a drop in pre-tax profits from £18.7m to £10m for the year to the end of September.
NIB says the fall was mainly due to exceptional factors including a £6.9m charge to cover ongoing investigations into the bank and its DIRT liability recently agreed with the Revenue Commissioners.
The bank also says it has been affected by the strength of sterling, as a greater proportion of its parent National Australia Bank's costs have been directly consolidated into NIB's results after a realignment of its operations in Europe last year.
Bad debts also rose from £800,000 to £4.3m.
NIB says business lending rose by 20% in the period, with personal lending up 12%. Mortgages grew by 14%.
