AIB makes a pre-tax profit of €987m

AIB is the Republic of Ireland's largest mortgage lender

AIB made a pre-tax profit of €987m (£845m) in the first half of 2023, up 84% on the €537m (£460m) profit in the same period last year.

The bank's UK division, which includes its Northern Ireland business, had a pre-tax profit of £119m compared to £66m in the first half of 2022.

Rising interest rates are generally good for bank profits.

They enable banks to increase the "spread" between what they charge borrowers and pay to savers.

That spread is known as the net interest margin (NIM) and at AIB it increased from 1.48% to 2.94% over the year.

AIB is the Republic of Ireland's largest mortgage lender and said it had a mortgage market share of 30.7% in the first half of the year.

Chief executive Colin Hunt said the bank's performance also reflects the strength of the Irish economy with "effective full employment, buoyant tax returns and continued high savings levels".

Meanwhile, Ulster Bank's parent company Nat West also has a strong performance in the first half of the year.

It announced better-than-expected pre-tax profits, up from £2.6bn to £3.6bn.

The results come after a torrid few days for the bank, which saw both its chief executive and the boss of its Coutts division quit over the closure of Nigel Farage's account.

Nat West does not disclose Ulster Bank's performance in its group accounts.

It is continuing the process of winding down Ulster Bank operations in the Republic of Ireland.