€700m swing in fortunes as BoI reports pre-tax profit

Bank of Ireland saw more than a €700m positive swing in fortunes in the first half of the year, generating an underlying pre-tax profit of €327m.

For the same period last year, the bank delivered a corresponding loss of €395m.

Full pre-tax profit actually amounted to €399m — compared to a loss of €516m at the same time last year — after a one-off gain of €87m linked to changes in the bank’s defined benefit pension scheme and other non-core items are included.