Saturday, March 06, 2010
ACC BANK claims to still have the full support of its Dutch parent company Rabobank, despite seeing its after-tax loss increase by more than €150 million to €394m last year.
ACC’s 2009 financial figures were published yesterday a day after Rabobank reported a 17% fall in group net profit.
The Irish business bank — which was bought by Rabobank eight years ago and which shed 200 jobs last year — had reported post-tax losses of €242m in 2008.
ACC said yesterday that it recorded an impairment charge of €383m in 2009, which was up from €306m in the previous year.
Total income fell by 23% last year due to the non-recognition of interest on impaired loans and operating costs went from €99m to €112m during the 12-month period.
Kevin Knightly, chief executive of all Rabobank operations in Ireland, said: "The results of our retail business in Ireland for 2009, are disappointing and are due to our exposure to the property market.
"While the outlook remains challenging, the effect of the decisive action already taken leaves us well placed to implement our strategies for the future development of the bank, ACC Bank continues to enjoy the full support of its parent," he said.
The bank’s Dutch parent company injected additional equity to the tune of €275m into ACC last year, in order to ensure the bank remained adequately capitalised.
The ACC results also came a day after the head of RaboDirect Ireland — Rabobank’s online consumer/retail banking arm here — said that his company has no plans to leave Ireland, in the wake of other high-profile closure announcements, and is hoping to expand its services over the coming years.
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