AIB set to pay first shareholder dividend since 2008

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has welcomed moves by AIB to pay its first dividend to shareholders in nine years.

Minister Noonan has said that today’s results from AIB confirm a very strong performance by the bank with sustainable profits and significant lending into the Irish economy.

AIB has posted its full year results for 2016, which includes a pre-tax profit of €1.7bn.

"The underlying profitability is very strong," said AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne.

"€1.9bn was our profit in 2015, €1.7bn in 2016, but in both years we had a series of on-off items.

"The actual underlying profitability of the business is about €1bn, and that's coming through quite strongly, we've very, very strong growth in the Irish market, 16% increase in new lending."