State-owned AIB is looking for a "partial sale" of the bank in the next few years, chief executive David Duffy told RTE radio in an interview this morning.

With regards to the bank’s mortgage arrears, Mr Duffy says they have stabilised and will begin to fall. So far, the bank has not yet had a case through the new insolvency process which was launched in September, noting that people realise it’s not a “magic solution” and prefer to engage with the bank.

To date, the bank has permanently restructured 5,000 mortgages, agreed 400 split mortgages and has “many more in the pipeline”, Mr Duffy said.

“I would hope that we would demonstrate over the next year or two that we will have sufficient capital. I hope that we’ll return to profitability next year,” he said.

(Additional reporting Bloomberg)