Ulster Bank and First Active's London-quoted parent, Royal Bank of Scotland, yesterday said that it was on course to repeat last year's profit growth of 12 per cent.
Britain's second-biggest bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, gave a confident trading update yesterday, saying that it was performing well this year and reassuring investors on its exposure to UK consumer bad debts.
"The underlying performance of the business continues to perform along the lines we have seen before, with diversity coming into play," chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin told reporters on a conference call.
Revenue growth from corporate banking and the Citizens' US business are strong, but growth at the bank's UK retail operations, which includes Natwest, has slowed as consumers have moved away from unsecured borrowing, the bank said.
Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the biggest players in the Irish financial sector through its ownership of Ulster Bank and mortgage specialist, First Active, which it purchased through Ulster Bank for €887 million in October 2003.
The bank has made a string of acquisitions, mainly in the US, since it bought NatWest five years ago. It is Europe's second biggest bank by market value. However, Mr Goodwin ruled the bank out of imminent deals.
The news buoyed its share price, which has been suffering in recent weeks, along with the rest of its sector, on the back of investor fears that the end of the consumer boom in the UK will hit earnings and leave banks with bad debts.
Royal Bank of Scotland closed 1.04 per cent up at £17 (€25.35) in London last night.
