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Ireland's AIB bank sees first full year profit since 2008

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ireland's leading commercial bank, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), said on Thursday it garnered a pre-tax profit of 1.1 billion euros (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) last year, compared to a 1.7-billion-euro loss in 2013.

This is the first time the state-owned bank has reported a full year profit since the financial sector here crashed in 2008.

The bank said it completed 13.2 billion euros in new lending last year, an increase of 37 percent over a year ago.

It said the number of accounts in arrears in its owner-occupier mortgage portfolio declined by 22 percent last year.

Commenting on the bank's strong results, Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Thursday's figures demonstrate the significant progress made in returning the bank to a position of strength.

"AIB is becoming an increasingly valuable asset and today's results put the taxpayer in a strong position to regain the 20.8-billion-euro investment in the bank. Our attention now turns to the process of examining the range of options available to recoup this investment for the taxpayer," he said.

AIB is one of the so-called "big four" commercial banks in Ireland. It offers a full range of personal and corporate banking services.

In February 2009, the Irish government announced a massive rescue package for AIB and its rival Bank of Ireland (BOI), as their bad loan losses soared following the collapse of a domestic real-estate bubble. At present, the government holds 99.8 percent of stake in AIB.

Last month, Bank of Ireland (BOI) reported a profit for the first time since 2008, saying that it made a pre-tax profit of 921 million euros. Endit