KBC Bank refers to 'delay of transaction approval' over its closure plan

KBC Group's latest earnings report does not specify when it hopes to complete its exit from the Irish market

The deal to transfer €9bn of KBC's mortgage loans to Bank of Ireland was approved in March. Stock picture

Belgian-based banking group KBC continues to take account of loan charges over its  delayed exit from the Republic, its latest earnings show.

The group shocked customers and delighted rival lenders when it announced last year it would close KBC Bank Ireland. It was the second significant lender, after Ulster Bank, to announce it was shutting its doors in the local market.

KBC subsequently announced a deal to transfer €9bn of its mortgage loans to Bank of Ireland, a transaction that was approved by the competition watchdog in March.

In its latest quarterly earnings report, KBC Group didn't specifically say when it hoped to complete its exit, but referred to "a delay of transaction approval" in relation to the closure.

Bank of Ireland said in its earnings statement this month, that "subject to regulatory clearances", it expected to complete the €9bn transaction by the end of March next year.

"We recorded a small net increase in loan loss impairment, as limited net charges for individual loans, virtually all of which related to the sale transaction in Ireland, and an increase in the reserve for geopolitical and emerging risks were almost entirely offset by the full reversal of the remaining reserve for the coronavirus crisis," said KBC Group chief executive Johan Thijs.