Ulster Bank has reported first half operating profits up 20% to €354m for the first six months of this year, with its commercial banking and capital markets divisions strong.
That is up from €294m in same period in 2006. Total income in Ireland was up 13% to €911m.
Ulster Bank has operations the North and South and also owns First Active.
The Ulster Bank group, which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group, said that there was strong growth in its mortgage lending, although the pace of market growth has moderated.
Cormac McCarthy, group chief executive of Ulster Bank, said there is strong demand for mortgage products, though there has been maybe a 10% reduction in applications over the first half.
Overall lending increased by 27%, with business lending up 37%.
Ulster Bank advanced €24 billion to mortgage customers in the first half, compared to €21.2 billion in the first half last year, with £32.2 billion corporate lending, up from £24.9 billion last year.
Ulster Bank said that the credit environment remains 'benign', despite recent rises in interest rates, and impairment losses fell by €5.9m to €78.7m.
Average customer deposits rose 16%, and the group said that it added 47,000 new current account customers in the first half.
Speaking on RTE radion this morning, Mr McCarthy said activity in the Republic has been very strong across all business lines - both commercial and retail banking.
Overall, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is leading a consortium bid in the battle for Dutch giant ABN Amro, said net profits rose 20%.
The second biggest bank in Britain said net profit reached £3.5 billion pounds (€5.28 billion) in the six months.
Revenue advanced by 7.7% to £14.69 billion and bad debts, or loans that have been written off, fell 1.8% to £871m in the first half.
