Bank of Ireland narrows loss to 569m euros as economy improves

Bank of Ireland made an underlying pre-tax loss of 569 million euro (£469 million) last year, down from almost 1.5 billion euro (£1.2 billion) in 2012.

The bank said it recorded an operating profit for the year of more than 1 billion euro (£824 million) before impairment charges on loans of 1.6 billion euro (£1.3 billion) were taken into account.

Its annual report said the level of defaulted loans has fallen 6 per cent since June 2013.

Bank of Ireland was bailed out by the Irish Government from 2009-2011 with about 4.8 billion euro (£4 billion) and the state holds 14 per cent of the bank's stock.

Richie Boucher, group chief executive, said the bank's underlying performance improved by almost 1 billion euro (£824 million) in 2013.

"2013 was a year of further substantial progress for Bank of Ireland," he said.

"Taxpayers' support for and investment in Bank of Ireland has been rewarded and repaid. We are profitable and generating capital in 2014."

Additional reporting agencies