Pre-tax profits at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) amounted to €53.4m in the ten months to the end of December 2001 - an annualised increase of 19%.
The bank says the integration of its existing Irish operations with ICC Bank, which was acquired last year, is now complete.
Asset value grew by 19% to €7.1bn, representing the combined assets of Bank of Scotland and ICC, while net advances were up nearly 20% to €5.3bn. Deposits increased by 10% to €2.6bn. The cost income ratio has fallen from 42% to 39%.
Bank of Scotland (Ireland) now has 15% of the SME market. The bank's Mark Duffy said it aimed to be Ireland's number one business bank by 2005.
Its parent HBOS, created from last year's merger between Halifax and Bank of Scotland, said last year that pre-tax profits rose 3% in 2001 to just over £3bn sterling.
HBOS, the fifth largest bank in Britain, said it was reaping dividends from the merger, which is aimed at saving £690m a year. In 2001 however, costs associated with the merger cost it £132m.
The bank also stunned the market by announcing a rights issue, increasing its share base by almost 5% to raise around £1.37bn. It said the cash would be used to fund organic growth.
