Ulster Bank reported a loss of £368 million (€419 million) for 2009 as loan impairments rose sharply throughout the year.
The Irish arm of Royal Bank of Scotland said charges for bad debts increased from £106 million in 2008 to £649 million by the end of December 2009. Some £348 million of that total figure was booked in the fourth quarter of the year, up from £71 million a year earlier and £144 million in the quarter ended September 30th 2009.
The number of mortgages in arrears rose during the year, with 3.3 per cent of residential mortgages three or more months in arrears compared to 1.6 per cent for 2008.
The bank's operating profit before impairment fell to £281 million for the year from £324 million in 2008.
Ulster Bank chief executive officer Cormac McCarthy said today there is still more to be done before Irish banks are fully repaired.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the chief executive of Ulster Bank Cormac McCarthy said he believed there was more to come.
"I think we're a long way down the track. The government has done a very significant job in stabilising matters but until Nama is up and running we won't really have full clarity at where things stand."
He said there is stress across all areas of the Irish economy.
"It's not just property, business - the consumer is hurt as well," he said.
Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland shrank its 2009 operating loss to £6.2 billion, despite a jump in bad debts which the bank says may now have peaked. That compares to a loss of £6.9 billion a year ago.
However, it is still one of the largest European banking losses for the year.
The bank, which had struck a cautious tone at the half-year, gave investors more room for hope today, signalling a "cautiously encouraging" outlook for the bank, though it said 2010 would be "a year of hard slog".
Part-nationalised RBS said impairments rose sharply to £13.9 billion, from £7.4 billion a year ago, but appear to have peaked. Fourth quarter impairments fell 5 per cent on the third quarter.
RBS posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of £3.6 billion, from £24.3 billion a year ago, the largest ever UK corporate loss. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/ had expected a bottom line loss of £5.7 billion.
RBS, 84 per cent state-owned, has been a lightning rod for public anger over bank excesses and pay, but the bank said it had received government consent for a pared-down bonus pool and confirmed chief executive Stephen Hester would waive his bonus.
Global Banking and Markets, RBS's investment bank arm, provided a rare bright spot for the bank at the half year and did the same again for the 12 months, swinging out of the red with an operating profit of £5.7 billion, compared to a year-ago loss of £1.8 billion, despite a "normalisation" of market conditions in the second half after a bumper start to the year.
Additional reporting - Agencies
