KBC Bank Ireland has had its authorised share capital increased by €500 million by its Belgian parent company in recent weeks.

Documents filed with the company’s office show that the authorised share capital of the company was increased to €3 billion on April 8th, from €2.5 billion previously.

This was achieved through 400 million additional ordinary shares being created at €1.25 apiece.

KBC declined to comment on this move to The Irish Times. The group is due to publish its first quarter results on May 12th.

KBC’s Irish subsidiary returned to the black last year, with a profit of €75 million compared with a loss of €90.5 million in 2014. Its income rose by 11 per cent to €268 million.

Returning to profit was a trigger for its Belgian parent to begin a strategic review of the business, with the possibility that it could be sold. In February Wim Verbraeken, chief executive of KBC Bank Ireland, said it would be late 2016 before the outcome of this review was known.

In its 2015 annual report, the Irish bank said its capital base had “remained solid” with a Tier 1 capital ratio of 13.3 per cent at December 31st compared with 12.7 per cent a year earlier.

Since the global financial crash in late 2008, KBC has positioned itself as a challenger bank in the Irish market, establishing 15 hubs in main centres around the country.

It secured a 14 per cent share of new mortgages last year and opened 74,000 new customer accounts.