Bank of Ireland reported results for the first six months of the year which showed profit before tax dropped to €721m from €1.08bn in the same period in 2024.

The bank said income in the period was reduced due to lower net interest income as central banks reduced rates, and increased impairments on its residential mortgage, property development and corporate lending portfolios.

Bank of Ireland announced an interim dividend of 25c per share.

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Shares in the lender dropped as much as 4% in the wake of the announcement of the results.

Bank of Ireland said that it had moved its small business and agriculture customer base from the corporate and commercial division to its retail Ireland division.

It said the move was driven by the needs of the business as many of these customers have banking requirements closer to the retail division’s customer base.

There should be no noticeable impact for customers from the shift.

The bank, which employs more than 11,000 people, said it introduced a range of interventions to support productivity and reduce costs in the first six months of the year. It said it continues to experiment with, and deploy, generative artificial intelligence.