Bank of Scotland profits increase by 14% to €118m

PRE-TAX profits at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) have surged by 14% to €118 million for the first half of the year.

On announcing its interim results for six months to June 30, 2007 the bank also said that loans to customers grew by 23%, while deposits were 10% ahead.

Net interest income also climbed by 23% to €224m.

It added that mortgage lending was flat but said it had outperformed the overall market and increased its share to 7.7%.

Chief executive of Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Mark Duffy said: “This is another strong set of results for the bank across the board and with the introduction of the Halifax Current Account, we are now a full service bank competing head on with the ‘big two’ banks.

“Business banking is going from strength to strength and retail banking is attracting consumers who have been taken for granted by their existing banks and who are clearly attracted by our value for money products.”

The bank said its retail business has seen a small decline in mortgage margins which it said reflected the increased level of competition.

“While competition intensifies, it is affordability of our products, our longer opening hours and the quality of our service that have been identified by our customers as the key points of differentiation,” said the statement.

It said its retail businesses enjoyed strong growth in the first half of this year.

Advances increased by an annualised 22% to £5.1bn (end 2006 £4.6bn), with the pipeline increasing by 12% from December 2006.

In May this year BOSI became a full-service bank with the launch of the Halifax Current Account.

It said yesterday the launch has been very well received, with the first six weeks of trading ahead of expectations.

It will continue the roll-out of its branch network, with 32 branches now open and said it is on track to achieve its roll-out target for the remainder of the year.