Bank writes off €1.8bn in bad debts

THE reckless lending by the Irish banking sector came home to roost yesterday as AIB, the country’s largest bank, announced it was forced to write off a massive €1.8 billion in bad loans in 2008.

That compares with €106 million written off in 2007.

The bank said losses on property investments in Ireland and Britain accounted for most of the provisions in the accounts, which came to 1.37% of average customer loans, compared to 0.09% in 2007.