NIB reports €600m pre-tax losses

NATIONAL Irish Bank has reported a pre-tax loss of €600 million for the first nine months of this year, up by over €130m on the same period in 2010.

In August, the bank reported first-half pre-tax losses of €400m. The Danish-owned bank’s performance this year — though in line with expectations — has been severely hampered by a marked reduction in consumer demand and the impact of impaired loans.

Yesterday’s nine-month figures showed an impairment charge of €632m — the amount of money set aside to cover non-performing loans — which compares to 504m for the first nine months of 2010.