Bank of Ireland's 68,000 shareholders will no longer receive the group's interim results report or notice of dividend by post following a decision to change the way interim results are communicated.

Shareholders were informed of this move in a letter, which also announced that the bank was abandoning the scheme through which they could opt for new shares instead of a cash dividend.

Cost savings for the bank was one of the reasons given for the changes in the service being provided to its shareholders.

The bank said sending out individual copies of the results was "of limited practical value" to stockholders because it was not possible to issue the printed reports until some weeks after the results were announced. The bank said it had decided to communicate the interim results to shareholders through advertisements in national newspapers on November 16th, the day after they were announced.

This would allow the information to be communicated to shareholders at a lower cost, it explained.

Alternatively, shareholders with access to the internet were able to read the full text of the results just after they were released to the stock exchange on November 15th through the bank's website - www.bankofireland.ie.

A spokeswoman said the bank would continue to send out to each shareholder a copy of its annual report and accounts in June setting out its full-year performance because it was legally obliged to do so. A limited number of interim reports were being printed.