Bank of Ireland stays on course to complete KBC mortgage loans by end of March

Bank of Ireland posted an underlying profit of €419m and a small decline in non-performing loans to €4.2bn.

Bank of Ireland said it is well down the road to appointing a new CEO to replace Francesca McDonagh who announced this year she was leaving to join Credit Suisse.

Bank of Ireland said it expects to have completed the €9bn acquisition of the mortgage loan books from rival KBC Bank by the end of next March. KBC is one of two rival lenders that are closing in the Republic.

Outgoing CEO of Bank of Ireland Francesca McDonagh said the acquisition of the KBC loans and other deals involving the closure of Ulster Bank mark a fundamental restructuring of “the Irish banking landscape”.