BoS (Ireland) see 17% asset growth

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) announced a 36% jump in pre-tax profits to €157m for the year to December 31, 2003.

The bank said that growth in total assets was up by 17% to €11.1bn.

Lending growth was up 17% to €8.2bn, while customer deposits grew by just over a third (34%) to €4.53bn.

In his statement, Chairman Phil Flynn said: "2002 represented yet another successful step towards out stated aim of becoming Ireland's No.1 Business Bank by 2005."

The group increased its assets by 34% to €9.5bn, generating efficiencies that contributed to a further decline in its cost/income ratio to 34%.

Flynn said the main drivers in this growth were a significant increase in revenue across all product areas, tighter cost control, and surging personal productivity.

Mark Duffy, CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland (Ireland) for the last ten years said: "We have started the year with a flourish with record levels of work in progress, stable margins and strong deposit growth".