Bank of Ireland braced for €14m levy

In a trading update yesterday, Bank of Ireland chief executive Mike Soden said the bank has seen strong growth in all of its divisions.

But the Government’s levy on Irish banks will shave around €14 million of its first half profits.

“The underlying half year outturn would have been at the high end of the single digit spectrum but for the bank levy in the Republic of Ireland ... which did not apply last year, and the impact of the strengthening of the euro against sterling,” BoI said in a statement.