Bank of Ireland shows pre-tax loss of €723m in first half

BANK of Ireland has reported an underlying pre-tax loss of €723 million for the first six months of this year.

The loss is significantly down from the €1.32 billion loss seen in the same period last year and that decline was driven by a 22% drop in first-half impairment charges to cover under-performing loans.

Total impairment charges for the period amounted to €842m, down from a charge of just over €1.08bn for the first half of 2010.