Last week, Bank of Ireland announced it had completed the acquisition of a majority of KBC Ireland’s mortgages, personal loans and other assets, a transaction involving around 150,000 Irish customers.
The loans consist of around 7.6 billion euros worth of non-performing mortgages, of which around 100 million euros each in SME and consumer loans and 100 million euros in non-performing loans.
“In addition, a small portfolio of distressed mortgages and credit card balances were purchased from Bank of Ireland,” said Chief Executive Johan Thijs.
“The deal marks an important step in KBC’s orderly and gradual withdrawal from the Irish market.”
Mr Thijs said the completion of the sale to Bank of Ireland will result in a capital relief on the group’s balance sheet of around €1bn, which KBC intends to distribute to investors in the form of a share buyback or an extraordinary dividend.
The decision is to be made by the Board of Directors in the first half of the year and is subject to the approval of the European Central Bank.
According to results released today, the group’s Irish division posted a profit of 33 million euros in the last quarter of 2022 as it prepares for its exit from the Irish market.
The results include one-off payments of €9 million.
The bank also made profits in its Belgian, Czech and international market units in the last quarter of 2022.
Overall, the net profit of the KBC group for 2022 amounted to 2.8 billion euros, the lender announced on Thursday.
“Total income benefited from higher net interest income, trading and fair value income and net other income, all partially offset by lower technical insurance income, dividend income and net fee and commission income,” said Mr. Thijs.
“Expenses were higher, partly due to seasonality, and we experienced a net impairment of our loan book, partly due to an increase in the reserve for geopolitical and emerging risks.”
