No wonder their Chief Executive, Mark Duffy, announced his resignation a short two weeks ago, on 13 Feb 2009!!
businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2370692;s=rollingnews.htm
Bank of Scotland (Ireland) today reported a 2008 loss of E250m before tax after it wrote off E533m in bad loans and as deposits that plunged by 32pc
The banks reported a profit of E272m the previous year.
It said the percentage of impaired loans rose from 0.12pc in 2007 up to 1.79pc last year adding that the pace of the economic deterioration in Ireland has led to “rising arrears and falling asset values”.
Advances to customers rose by 8pc to E32.1 billion but deposits slumped by 32pc to E6.6 billion.
Net interest income rose by 9pc to E523m and operating expenses fell by 9pc to E206m.
"Commenting on the results, Mark Duffy, Chief Executive of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), said: “Last year was a very challenging one for Bank of Scotland (Ireland) along with all banks, nationally and globally. The severe deterioration in the Irish economy has led to rising arrears and falling asset values which, in turn, has resulted in a significant increase in impairments.”
He added that the underlying core strengths of the business remain.
“We have grown income, reduced cost and continued to increase our market share. Being part of Lloyds Banking Group delivers strength and security, particularly for depositors. We will continue to look after our customers; providing support and value for money products through our retail channel and supporting business customers as evidenced by our commitment with our very successful E1bn fund.”