Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has announced a 36% jump in pre-tax profits to €157m for the year to December 2003. The bank said that growth in total assets was up by 17% to €11.1 billion.
Lending growth was up 17% to €8.2 billion, while customer deposits grew by 34% to €4.53 billion
'We have started the year with a flourish with record levels of work in progress, stable margins and strong deposit growth,' commented the CEO of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), Mark Duffy.
'Those numbers keep the bank on target to become Ireland number one business bank in 2005,' he added.
Earlier, its UK parent, HBOS, reported a 29% rise in profits for 2003 - near the top end of market expectations.
Pre-tax profits rose to £3.77 billion sterling from £2.91 billion a year earlier, the biggest UK mortgage lender said. Analysts had expected a profit of £3.72 billion.
'Two years' volume growth and efficiency gains will prove to be the foundations of higher shareholder returns in 2004 and beyond,' CEO James Crosby said in a statement.
