Ulster Bank records first profit since 2008

Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown is comfortable with the €453m impairment release in the 2014 accounts, despite recent Central Bank warnings about the level of bad loan writebacks among the banks.

The impairment release helped Ulster Bank post a €752m operating profit, representing the first annual profit since 2008. This compares with a €1,995m loss in 2013.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Brown said that the writeback of loan loss provisions was modest compared with the level of losses incurred since the property market collapsed in 2008.