“Notwithstanding currency impacts in relation to UK assets, we have reduced the volume of defaulted loans by €1.9bn from June 30 2013 to a level of €16.4bn on September 30 2014,” it said.

The bank added that it was benefiting from the “positive economic” environments in both Ireland and the UK.

Irish mortgage and default arrears continued to reduce in the third quarter, with reductions achieved in both Owner Occupied and Buy to Let mortgage books, the bank added.

The Group continues to keep under review its provisioning assumptions on its Irish residential mortgage books.

Following on from the recent bank stress tests, the bank continues to expect to maintain a buffer over a CET 1 ratio of 10p on a Basel III transitional basis, while prioritising the capital we are generating towards facilitating the de-recognition of the €1.3bn of 2009 Preference Stock between January 2016 and July 2016.

Article Source: http://tinyurl.com/kbwqb42