Bank of Ireland chairman quits as profit plummets 97%

by Gill Montia

Story link: Bank of Ireland chairman quits as profit plummets 97%

The chairman of Bank of Ireland is standing down in July.

Richard Burrows has thrown in the towel after the bank reported a 97% fall in net profit in for the 12 months to the end of March 2009, to €59 million.

Even then the result was propped up by net tax credits on recent losses, the bank having written down over €1.4 billion in bad debts during the period, compared with €227 million a year earlier.

The lender also upped its forecast for writedowns in connection with bad debt during the current fiscal year, to €6 billion, and went on to warn that the figure could be optimistic should Irish property prices fail to bottom out by 2011.

In presenting its results the bank also announced that it hopes to buy back up to €1.4 billion in its international debt obligations.

Bank of Ireland was bailed out by the Republic’s government at the beginning of the year with a €3.5 billion injection of cash, along with rival Allied Irish Bank, which received a similar amount.