Ulster Bank has reported an operating profit of €68m for 2021 as it said it continues to make progress on its phased withdrawal from the Irish market.
Total income for the year rose to €578m from €574m in 2020 while operating expenses rose to €609m from €548m.
Ulster Bank said that net loans to customers fell to €18.6 billion from €20 billion in 2020 as the bank stopped lending to new customers in July.
However, when only its continuing operations are included, the bank recorded an operating loss of €259m for 2021.
This marked an improvement on the operating loss of €405m for 2020.
Since the end of October, it has also stopped accepting applications from new customers but said it is still considering applications on a reduced number of products from existing customers, mainly mortgages.
Ulster Bank announced its phased withdrawal from the Irish market last February.
It said that since then, it has made progress in developing and implementing a plan which acts in the best interests of customers, staff and stakeholders.
During the year, Permanent TSB agreed to acquire €7.6 billion worth of assets from Ulster Bank.
The deal includes Ulster Bank's €7 billion performing non-tracker residential mortgage book and its performing SME loan book - worth €230m.
It also includes the entire Lombard Asset Finance loan business - worth €400m - and 25 branches in Ulster Bank's branch network.
Separately, AIB agreed to buy about €4.2 billion of performing corporate and commercial loans from Ulster Bank.
NatWest said it expects to incur disposal losses through income related to the wind down of Ulster Bank of around €300m in 2022 and withdrawal related costs of around €600m from 2022 to 2024, with around €500m incurred by the end of 2023.
NatWest also said it expect the phased withdrawal to be capital accretive.
In today's results statement, Ulster Bank said it has focused on "effective and timely communications" about its exit from Ireland.
It said it was engaging with all customers impacted by the loan sales and launched the "Choose, Move & Close" readiness campaign.
This aims to give personal customers as much notice as possible of the steps they will be required to take to move the products they hold with the bank that are not already covered by the sale agreements.
"This readiness campaign is an important step in our closure, not just for customers but for the industry too, as we work together to ensure the safe transition of customers to their new providers," Ulster Bank said.
"With this in mind, we are engaging with the rest of the industry within the bounds of competition law, to allow them time to prepare for the volume of customers who will need to move or switch accounts," it said.
"We are also engaging with the main direct debit originators and large employers to provide advance notice of the changes to allow them time to prepare to help their own customers and employees who will be switching accounts," it added.
