Allied Irish Banks this morning said its third-quarter trading was more resilient than expected, with tentative signs of recovery in new lending. It reported that 74% of its customers on coronavirus-related payment breaks returned to regular payments.
Ireland's largest mortgage lender said new lending was down 18% from a year earlier after a 27% fall in the first half.
Net interest income for the nine months to September 30th was down 9%.
“While there is a high level of uncertainty as we face into the fourth quarter, total income has shown a level of resilience better than that anticipated at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis earlier this year,” the group said in a trading statement.
Main rival Bank of Ireland also reported a better-than-expected performance this week, with its net interest income down just 2%.
Both lenders were cautious with AIB predicting that recently reimposed COVID-19 curbs would see the Irish economy contract again in the fourth quarter.
AIB said that of the 66,000 breaks it provided for borrowers impacted by the restrictions, just 3,985 mortgage holders were still on the payment holiday with the outstanding balance made up of almost 8,000 lower value personal loans and just over 5,000 small business loans.
Financial strength
The Irish Times reported earlier this month that AIB, which unveiled plans earlier this year to cut 1,500 jobs by 2022, is carrying out a fresh examination of costs as the Covid-19 economic crisis is set to weigh on bank incomes for the foreseeable future.
The bank took an additional €100 million impairment charge and reiterated that the €1.3 billion it has put aside to date in 2020 would make up a significant majority of its provisions for the year.
AIB's core Tier 1 capital ratio - a key measure of financial strength - rose to 16.1% from 15.6% at the end of June, the highest of any Irish lender.
It maintained its full-year guidance and medium-term target of a return on tangible equity (ROTE) above 8% by 2022 but said it would provide an update by year-end on how it would achieve its targets in a more challenging environment.
Davy Stockbrokers said in a note that it expected the update to focus on further cost cuts and a lowering of management's medium-term Tier 1 capital ratio target of more than 14%. - Reuters
