Bank Of Ireland Loses EUR1.25bn In Six Months

Bank of Ireland has announced a pre-tax loss of €1.25 billion for the first six months of 2012, more than double the loss it made in the same six months last year.

It's also set aside more money - €941m - to cover loan losses.

The results were poorer than expected but chief executive Richie Boucher said he was optimistic that the bank would see its fortunes improve.

"The first half of 2012 has been a very difficult environment," Boucher said. "The very low level of official interest rates has adversely impacted on our earnings rates and therefore our income. I think with the steps we have taken, we will see that the margin will start to strengthen from here."

Unlike its rival, Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland has decided not to close any of its 254 branches around the country.

Mr Boucher said he believed the bank needed to retain its branches in order to sell new products to its customers.

However the bank will continue to restructure as demanded by the troika of the IMF/ECB/EU that funded the Ireland's rescue package.

The bank plans to let go more than one thousand staff to further reduce costs.

Bank of Ireland has 13,400 workers, down about 3,700 from the 16,100 it employed in early 2009.

The bank set aside €66 million in the first half of the year to pay for the cost of further redundancies.