Rabobank: No plans to exit Irish market

DUTCH-owned lender, Rabobank has reiterated its commitment to the Irish market — where it has more than 70,000 customers — despite reports claiming it is looking to exit here in the next few years.

The bank, which owns ACC Bank here, said yesterday — in a statement coinciding with the publication of its annual results — that it is focused on improving the state of its Irish loan book.

“Contrary to some reports, Rabobank Group has no plans to exit the Irish market. The bank is fully supportive of its Irish business and its current strategy to alleviate the problems in the ACC Bank loan book,” it added.

Reports emanating earlier yesterday, quoted the group’s chairman, Piet Moerland, as saying that the bank will have to serve out the next three to five years in its Irish operations, and keep impairment provisions at a high level over that time.

Yesterday’s annual results show that while Rabobank’s bad loan provisions fell by 37% last year, to €596m, they mainly arose from its Irish customer base.

Media reports also reported Mr Moerland as saying — apparently in a joking manner — that if anyone knew of a potential buyer for ACC, then they should let him know.

Meanwhile, the group’s overall lending levels increased by 5%, over the course of 2010, to €436bn. Its net profits grew by 26% to €2.8bn and saving deposits grew by 8% to €131bn.

“2010 saw a fragile economic recovery. Following the deep recession of 2009, the Dutch economy started to grow again in 2010. Many of our corporate clients managed to restore their financial positions, but this unfortunately did not extend to late-cycle sectors such as construction,” the company said.