Bank of Ireland
The Bank of Ireland’s (BOI) ability to maintain its profitability and expand its business even under difficult economic conditions has prompted the judges to hand the bank the award again this year.
Although the normally buoyant Irish economy slowed considerably in 2002 along with the worldwide trend, the bank ended the year with a record E1.17bn in net profit and an impressive ROE of 22.2%. Its cost-to-income ratio was unchanged at 56% and the bank managed to grow its assets 2.4% despite the slowdown.
In 2002, BOI continued its remarkable transformation from monoline Irish retail bank into an international financial group, buying a majority stake in Iridian, an asset manager specialising in US equities.
The bank has significantly cut costs and improved efficiency by selling non-performing assets and reorganising its retail branches. These efforts alone have resulted in E85m of savings annually. Its installation of SAP software last year has led to further savings and gains in efficiency.
“Bank of Ireland Group has achieved 11 consecutive years of strong earnings growth and ROE in excess of 20%. We are delighted by this further recognition of the sustained business performance of the group,” said CEO Michael Soden.
