Bank of Ireland says its deposits have stabilised in recent months after 'significant outflows' of money in the three months leading up to the announcement of Ireland's EU/IMF bail-out package.
In a trading update issued this afternoon, the bank also said loan losses - excluding those transferred to NAMA - were lower compared with 2009. During the year, the bank also transferred loans with an original value of €9.4 billion to NAMA, receiving €5.2 billion in return. It still has loans worth around €5 billion yet to be transferred to NAMA.
The bank said it expected its profits for last year - excluding losses - to be 25% to 30% lower than €1.4 billion recorded in the previous year.
Bank of Ireland said there were 'significant' outflows of deposits from the bank in the three months leading up to the announcement of Ireland's EU/IMF bail-out package, but retail customer deposits had remained stable. It added that overall, deposits had stabilised since late November. The bank said loans to customers continued to fall last year.
Bank of Ireland also said it had resumed paying dividends and coupons on certain capital instruments, and as a result would pay €214.5m to the National Pensions Reserve Fund next week on preference shares held by the State. Such payments had been prohibited for a year by the European Commission. Last year, the dividend was paid to the State in the form of ordinary shares.
The bank also said it lost around €100m on subordinated bonds in an unnamed Irish financial institution, which exchanged the bonds for cash. The institution involved is understood to be AIB.
Since the end of November, Bank of Ireland has raised €750m towards meeting targets set by the Central Bank, the deadline for which have been extended. The Central Bank is due to carry out updated assessments of the financial position of the banks by the end of March.
BoI new charges system criticised
New charges being introduced by Bank of Ireland have been criticised as unfair and ill-considered.
From Monday most of the bank's current account holders will face new requirements to qualify for free banking.
According to FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres, the charges will hit low-income customers who in many cases will be unable to avoid them.
Bank of Ireland's new charges will affect three-quarters of its 1.2 million current account holders. The only ones not affected will be customers with Golden Years or Student accounts.
To qualify for free banking from Monday, customers will have to lodge €3,000 every quarter into their current account and make at least nine debit payments per quarter using Banking 365, or keep a minimum of €3,000 in their account.
Otherwise they will face charges, either a flat fee of 90 transactions per quarter for €11.40, or a pay-as-you go charge of 28 cent per transaction. This works out more expensive - 90 transactions costing €25.20.
AIB says it has no current plans to change charges, but is keeping them under review.
Polish watchdog backs AIB sale deal
AIB says Poland's financial regulator has approved the sale of its Polish interests to Spain's Santander. AIB says it expects the deal to be complete by April 1.
