Bank of America’s EU banking hub in Dublin saw its pretax profit slide 4.7 per cent to $714 million last year as the company set aside $106 million of provisions to cover potential loan losses while the European economy weakened amid rising inflation and the Ukraine war.
Still, net interest income jumped 41 per cent to $579 million at the unit, known as Bank of America Europe, as its loan book grew to $29.8 billion from $27.1 billion and the lender benefited from rising interest rates, particularly on surplus cash left on deposit with central banks. Money stored at central banks, mainly the European Central Bank , stood at $18.8 billion last year. The ECB’s deposit rate jumped from minus 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent between July and December, and has subsequently climbed to 3 per cent, with a further rate increase expected next week.
Bank of America Europe, which employees more than 1,000 people in the Republic, including contractors, has two main divisions: global banking and markets and a support services division. The Irish business, led by chief executive Fernando Vicario, had an average of 2,261 employees across Europe last year.