DUBLIN: Bank of Ireland said that it has traded in line with its expectations with “continuing momentum” across all of its businesses in Ireland and internationally since December 2014.
The bank said asset quality trends have continued to improve in line with its expectations, reflecting the favourable economic conditions and its own efforts to work customers in financial difficulty.
It said defaulted loan volumes at the end of March 2015 were lower than at 31 December 2014, with reductions across all asset classes on a constant currency basis. “Supported by the actions we have been and are taking and the favourable economic environment, we expect defaulted loans to continue to reduce. We expect impairment charges to continue to progress towards normalised levels during 2015.”
The group’s customer loan volumes in April 2015 were €85bn, compared to €82bn on 31 December 2014. The bank said new lending has continued to grow in line with its expectations.
Customer deposits were €79bn in April 2015, resulting in a loan to deposit ratio of 107pc.
Wholesale funding reduced from €20bn in December 2014 to €19bn at the end of March 2015. The group said it has successfully completed €1.5bn of new issuances since December 2014.
According to the bank, the value of the assets in its sponsored defined benefit pension schemes increased by over 10pc during the quarter, but the impact of quantitative easing reduced the IAS 19 accounting required euro discount rate by around 80bps at end of March 2015.
This has resulted in a net increase in the IAS 19 defined benefit pension schemes’ deficits to approximately €1.7bn from €1bn at end of December 2014.
