Ulster Bank Records £1.5bn Loss

Ulster Bank has announced a loss of almost £1.5bn for 2013.

This compares with a loss of around £1bn in 2012.

The news comes as the bank's parent group, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) confirmed losses of more than £8bn for last year.

In a statement, the organisation said the loss was reflective of a one-off charge relating to bad property loans, but insisted that its underlying performance was continuing to improve.

For 2013, the bank had an operating profit of £317m, but this was eradicated by bad load charges of almost £1.8bn. It is understood that around £1bn of these charges relate to the establishment of an internal bad bank, that will run off property loans over a three-year period.

Commenting on the findings, Chief Executive Jim Brown, said: "Today's results demonstrate our continued progress toward returning to profitability in 2014 through an improved operational performance across the Bank.

"The transfer of non-performing loads to RCR and the associated one-off impairment charge, will enable us to focus on building a really good core bank that serves our customers well."

In addition to the above, RBS said it was to establish a "closer integration" between its franchises in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It said the Ulster Bank will benefit from the move and will create "meaningful synergies in terms of investment, costs and customer experiences".

Mr Brown added: "We have been part of the fabric of Ireland for the past 178 years and we are now looking forward to the next phase as we continue to build a customer-focused but simplified and more agile banking model.

"While Ulster Bank will continue to operate across the island of Ireland, in Northern Ireland a closer alignment of our infrastructure with the bank in Britain will bring more efficient service and product improvements to our customers.

"Already this year we have stated our intention to make £1.7bn available in funding for business and personal customers across the island of Ireland, demonstrating a clear commitment to customers new and existing."

Ulster Bank is the largest banking institution in Northern Ireland and one of the largest in the Republic of Ireland, but it has suffered massive losses since the recession and the property crash in 2007/08.

(JP)