Rumours are swirling that a number of investment banks, including Barclays and Credit Suisse, are looking to move staff to Dublin – or strengthen their existing Irish operations – to maintain access to the single market once the UK leaves the EU.
Ireland’s banking sector is already dominated by foreign names; of the country’s biggest 10 lenders, six bear the branding of foreign banks. However, data collected by The Banker reveals that homegrown lenders make up four of the top five.
The biggest by Tier 1 capital is Allied Irish Bank (AIB), which is still 99% state-owned following its bailout in 2010. The bank has returned to profitability, having recorded 19.57% return on capital in 2015. The government has recently said it plans to float at least part of its stake in AIB in 2017.
With $8.584bn of Tier 1 on its books, Bank of Ireland is the second biggest by capital. However it owns more assets than AIB; Bank of Ireland held $142.348bn as at 2015 while AIB recorded $112.089bn.
Third is Ulster Bank Ireland, which due to a succession of acquisitions operates as part of RBS. Ulster is followed by Citibank Europe which has $7.608 of Tier 1 capital. The risk-weighted capital adequacy ratios of these are 32.1% and 32% respectively.
Rounding out the top five is Permanent Group Holdings which has $2.399bn of Tier 1 capital and a capital adequacy ratio of 18.9%. In 2015 it recorded a $471.74mn pre-tax loss.
All data sourced from www.thebanker.com
