Bank of Ireland was established by Royal Charter in 1783 and was the official banker to the Irish Government until the formation of the Central Bank of Ireland in 1942. Over the past 50 years, the Bank has grown from its commercial banking roots into a broadly based financial services organisation.

In the year ended 31 March 2009 the Bank of Ireland Group recorded a loss before tax of €7 million and earnings per share (EPS) of 5.9c. Excluding non-core items, underlying profit before tax is €332 million and underlying EPS is 30.2c. The Bank of Ireland Group has assets of more than €184 billion, and is rated A1 by Moody’s, A- by Fitch and A- by Standard and Poors with all the agencies quoting a stable outlook.

“Bank of Ireland has good businesses with a resilient business model. This has enabled the Group to continue to generate significant operating profit through-out this deep recession - our core franchise in Ireland remains intact; and internationally we are focused on those businesses where we have competitive strengths and capabilities.”
Richie Boucher, Bank of Ireland Group Chief Executive, 4 November 2009