NIB sees pre-tax loss of €468m

NATIONAL Irish Bank (NIB) has reported a pre-tax loss of €468 million and a loan impairment charge of €504m, for the first nine months of 2010.

Although the negative numbers remain high, the loss figure is slightly down from the €496m loss reported for the corresponding period last year. Added to that, the impairment figure – what is set aside for non-performing loans – is €40m less, when measured on a year-on-year basis.

Although, conscious of ongoing challenges in the market, NIB’s chief executive Andrew Healy said that loan impairments are likely to have peaked in the first half of this year.

“Our priority is the implementation of our restructuring programme, which is on track to complete by the end of the year. We’ve taken early and decisive action to reduce our costs and reposition NIB in a banking market that is undergoing massive change,” he added.

When complete, that restructuring programme will have seen NIB’s staff levels reduce by about 150 – mainly through a voluntary redundancy drive – and its branch network reduce from 58 outlets to 28 nationwide.

NIB’s profits, before impairment charges were taken into account, were down by 25% to €36m, while total income was down by 11% at €124m and operational costs fell by 3% to €88m.

Elsewhere, Lloyds Banking Group – which is in the process of winding down its Irish interests, through Bank of Scotland’s departure from Ireland – said group impairments have continued to decline in the third quarter of the year, but that impairment levels in the Irish business are expected to continue at similar levels to the first half of the year.