Bank of America shifts €7.7bn from Ireland to UK arm

Bank of America’s Irish unit shifted $8.7bn (€7.65bn) of capital to its UK parent last year as it continued to shrink Irish operations and move assets to London.

Merrill Lynch International Holdings, in Dublin, paid a $4.1bn dividend and repaid $4.6bn of subordinated debt to its London-based parent in 2014, according to a filing with the Irish Companies Registration Office, dated May 8. The Irish unit’s total assets tumbled 94% to $22.6bn at the end of 2014.

Bank of America chief executive, Brian T Moynihan began shifting assets in Ireland to the UK in 2013 as part of a move to simplify the company’s structure. The Irish unit had more than $406bn of assets in 2013, mostly in derivatives contracts, and lost its position as Ireland’s largest lender by assets last year after the transfers.

The unit’s derivate contracts fell to $11.7bn in December from $368.6bn a year earlier, the company said. Merrill Lynch International Bank closed branches in Amsterdam, Paris and Bahrain since last year and expects to close locations in Singapore and Toronto this year.

In June, the ECB took the business off the list of larger euro-region banks it was due to start supervising. The lender passed ECB stress tests last year.

• Bloomberg