Bank of Ireland has admitted that arrears in its residential mortgage book have continued to increase due to the difficult economic environment and high levels of unemployment.
They made the admission in a trading update this morning ahead of their AGM today.
They said interest rates were expected to remain lower for longer than expected and that residential property prices do not appear, as yet, to have fully stabilised.
It said it still expects to see impairment charges reducing from the ''elevated levels'' seen last year, with the pace of reduction depending on the performance of its Irish residential mortgage book and commercial property markets.
''We are engaging with residential mortgage customers who are in difficulty and are seeking to provide sustainable mortgage restructures where appropriate and possible, and continue to enhance our product range and restructuring solutions,' the bank said in its trading update.
