Dublin: Bank of Ireland Group CEO Richie Boucher said, “Having, to date, returned c.€6 billion in cash to the Irish taxpayers for their support and €4.8 billion investment in Bank of Ireland, we have made further substantial progress against our strategic priorities in 2014.”
The CEO added, “We have grown our new lending by more than 50% to €10bn and were the largest lender to the Irish economy last year. We have also generated capital at an accelerated pace and improved our asset quality. Our progress is reflected in our underlying financial performance, which we improved by almost €1.5 billion, with all trading divisions profitable. We are confident in the Group’s prospects. The outlook for the Irish and UK economies remains favourable. We have our strong retail and commercial franchises in these markets and we have resilient and professional people, who are motivated and focused and have a proven track record of delivery. The combination of these factors gives me confidence in our ability to responsibly deliver attractive and sustainable returns to our shareholders.”