By Elena Vardon
AIB Group announced an increase in its 2023 guidance following a significant rise in first-half pretax profit, driven by favorable interest rates and higher customer loan volumes.
For the six months ending June 30, the Irish bank reported a pretax profit of €987 million ($1.08 billion), marking a substantial improvement from the €537 million recorded during the same period last year.
Total operating income reached €2.21 billion, up from €1.27 billion in the corresponding half-year period of 2022. Notably, net interest income almost doubled to €1.77 billion from €895 million, resulting in a net interest margin of 2.94% for the period.
Based on these impressive results, the group has revised its net interest income forecast for the year to be above €3.6 billion, accompanied by a net interest margin exceeding 2.90%. This outlook surpasses the previously upgraded guidance of €3.3 billion and a margin above 2.70%.
Furthermore, AIB Group expects a return on tangible equity of approximately 20% for 2023, exceeding its medium-term target of 13%. As of June 30, this figure stood at 21.5%, showing significant growth from the 9.6% reported on December 31.