KBC Bank Ireland has reported a profit, after tax and impairment charges, of €25m for the third quarter of this year, and said it remains on track to return to full year profitability by next year.
The bank had reported a loss of €14m for the same time last year.
It said its loan impairment charges fell to €9m in the third quarter from €47m the same time last year.
KBC said it was maintaining its progress in resolving arrears in its retail mortgage and SME loans books, and said it has seen a 20% fall in the number of mortgage arrears cases in the first nine months of the year.
"The financial results and impairments are in line with our expectations and we remain on track to return to full year profitability by 2016, so our guidance remains the same as previously stated," commented Wim Verbraeken, the chief executive of KBC Bank Ireland.
The bank said it had added 59,000 new customer accounts in the first nine months of the year, adding that its current account is the main driver of new customer acquisition.
It said its mortgage business continued to grow strongly and it now has a 14.2% market share, while its new website and mobile app now accounts for 40% of its daily banking transactions.
"With the ongoing support and strength of our shareholder KBC Group and our focus on competitive products, offers and innovation, we are well positioned to further grow our customer base in 2015," Mr Verbraeken said.
KBC Bank Ireland has a workforce of over 1,000 in Ireland with retail banking hubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Kildare, Waterford, Wicklow and Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, its parent company KBC posted a better than expected net profit in the third quarter, as a strong performance in its traditional banking and insurance businesses made up for a weaker showing of its dealing room.
For the third quarter, the Belgian financial group said its loans were up at its main units of Belgium and the Czech Republic from a year earlier and remained stable in its international business.
Customer deposits were higher in all units compared with the third quarter of 2014.
With lower impairments in its markets - including Ireland, KBC's credit cost ratio for the first nine months fell to 0.23%, compared with 0.42 % for 2014 as a whole.
Overall, net profit fell 1.3% in the third quarter to €600m, well above the €515m expected in a Reuters poll of six analysts.
KBC said it remained committed to its dividend policy of paying out at least 50% of its profits from 2016 onwards.
