LONDON--Bank of Ireland PLC (IRE), one of a small handful of
banks to survive the country's severe debt crisis, said Friday the
Group remains focused on tight cost control while continuing to
invest in its core franchises.
The bank said restructuring and redundancy programs are
on-going, and fees for the exceptional liabilities guarantee are
reducing in line with expectations.
"We have the capital and the liquidity available to support our
growth objectives in Ireland and in our core overseas franchises,
and we are actively seeking new lending opportunities of the
appropriate credit quality and at appropriate levels of return", it
added.
The Group is continuing to meet all targets for the provision of
commercially appropriate restructuring arrangements to cooperating
customers who are having difficulty in meeting contractual
repayments.
The Group's net loan volumes at the end of September were
marginally below the 87 billion euros ($118.9 billion) reported at
June 30 while customer deposits were marginally above the EUR72
billion reported during the same period.
Capital ratios remain significantly above regulatory
requirements.
Bank of Ireland is considered to be the healthiest among a small
surviving group of Irish lenders, including Allied Irish Banks PLC
(ALBK.DB) and Permanent TSB, that required huge amounts of Irish
taxpayers' cash when the country's commercial-property market
collapsed five years ago. But Ireland's banks continue to struggle
with non-performing home and small business loans that may mean
they will in time require more capital, some analysts say.
The Irish government has said it is very confident it will
emerge from its bailout when the last of the EUR67.5 billion of
emergency loans are disbursed by the European Union and
International Monetary Fund at the end of this year.
--Eamon Quinn contributed to this article.
Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter:
@Raztweet
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