Allied Irish Banks (AIB), one of the Big Four commercial banks in Ireland, is set to scale down operations significantly in a bid to meet its 2023 profitability targets.
According to a Reuters report, the plan includes exiting British small and medium sized business lending market as well as reducing its workforce by 15%.
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AIB also intends to close five branches next year and reduce its head offices in Dublin to three by 2023.
This comes after the bank announced plans in March to reduce its cost base to €1.5bn in 2022. However, the timeframe was pushed by one year due to the impact of Covid-19.
It also targets a fully loaded core equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio of more than 14% and a return on tangible equity (ROTE) of more than 8%, the news agency added.
The withdrawal from the British SME market will save the company around €35m, while it will shift focus on larger corporate banking business and Northern Irish retail operations.
AIB chief executive Colin Hunt was quoted by Reuters as saying: “In short, it (Covid-19) has made significant change both necessary and possible.
“I think we’re demonstrating an extraordinary degree of cost consciousness in how we run the business.”
AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services.
Last year, AIB reported pre-tax operating profits of €1.09bn, a fall of nearly 22% from €1.4bn a year ago.
