Bank of Ireland makes pre-tax profit of €1.2bn

Bank of Ireland operates across the Republic of Ireland and the UK

Bank of Ireland made a pre-tax profit of €1.2bn (£1bn) in 2021, reversing a loss of €760m (£635m) in 2020.

Its retail division in the United Kingdom, which includes its Northern Ireland business, had an underlying profit of £358m.

In 2021 the bank said it would close 15 branches in Northern Ireland as part of a restructuring of its UK business.

Bank of Ireland said the restructuring of its Northern Ireland business was now "substantively complete".

"We are investing in our 13 retained branches and three business centres as well as enhancing our digital customer propositions," the bank added.

The bank has been refocusing its UK business to concentrate on more profitable areas in mortgages, car finance and travel money.

It has also been cutting costs, saying operating costs in the UK business were 7% or £18m lower in 2021 "as a result of the continued focus on cost management, including lower staff and operational costs".

The bank's improved performance overall largely reflects changes in loan loss provisions.

These provisions are money a bank must put aside to cover loans which they assess are unlikely to be repaid in full.

Most banks made large provisions at the start of the pandemic in 2021 but have since reversed these as economies performed better than originally feared.

The bank's chief executive Francesca McDonagh said she expected the bank to "return to full private ownership this year".

The Irish government has been selling down its shareholding in the bank which it acquired during the Irish financial crisis in 2010.