Bank of Ireland has said it performed in line with expectations during the first three months of the year, on the back of strong lending in Ireland.
In a trading update issued this morning, the bank said its full year guidance remains unchanged.
The lender said its income and costs performed in line with its plans, while it also announced a further reduction in its non-performing loans ratio.
Bank of Ireland completed the acquisition and migrated the KBC Bank Ireland portfolios during the first quarter, with about 150,000 new customers joining the bank and €8 billion of loans and €1.8 billion of deposits added to its balance sheet.
It said its new lending increased by 8% in the three months to March compared to the same time in 2022.
New lending at its Irish retail business rose by 33% with mortgage lending more than double last year's levels.
The bank said it continues to support the transition to a more sustainable economy with green mortgages in Ireland now accounting for 50% of new mortgage lending compared to 43% in the first quarter of 2022.
Customer loan volumes were higher at €80.1 billion at the end of March compared to €72 billion at the end of December 2022, mainly due to the addition of the KBC portfolios.
It noted that net lending increased by €0.3 billion in its Retail Ireland business, but this was offset by a reduction in international corporate and UK lending of €0.4 billion.
Meanwhile, customer deposits stood at €101 billion at the end of the first quarter, about €2 billion higher compared to December 2022.
The lender said this reflected the KBC deposit portfolio acquisition of €1.8 billion, continued growth in Retail Ireland deposits, which was partially offset by slightly lower Corporate and Markets and Retail UK deposit volumes.
Bank of Ireland said its group's non-performing exposure (NPE) ratio reduced to 3.4% of gross customer loans by the end of March, down from 3.6% in December.
But its NPEs increased by €0.2 billion since December last year to €2.8 billion, reflecting the small portfolio of NPEs bought, as planned, as part of the KBC portfolios acquisition.
"Notwithstanding recent international banking sector volatility to which we remain alert, our strong financial performance underpins our conviction in the delivery of our refreshed Group strategy," Bank of Ireland's group chief executive Myles O'Grady said today.
Shares in Bank of Ireland were lower in Dublin trade today.
