Danske Bank shake-up fuels talk of bank sale in North

Danske Bank raised its full-year profit forecast yesterday, after its earnings beat expectations and said it would run its Northern Ireland arm as a standalone business, fuelling speculation of a sale.

Danske’s shares rose more than 4% to their highest since July 2007 and were one of the biggest gainers in the FTSEurofirst 300 index. Denmark’s largest bank by market value has had to cut costs to cope with slow growth rates in its main market, Denmark, after a property bubble burst and has sought market share in countries such as Norway and Sweden.

It now plans to run its business in the North, which operates under the Danske Bank brand, as a standalone business. It has a market share of 20% in personal banking in Northern Ireland and 28% in business banking.