Bank of Ireland will exceed its five-year target to lend 33 billion euros to Irish customers by 2017, chief financial officer Andrew Keating said on Wednesday.

Ireland's largest lender by assets has led a sector-wide revival as the Irish economy expands faster than any other in Europe, but banks have only been able to slowly grow their loan books as repayments and redemptions exceed new lending.

The bank had lent 40 percent of the targeted 33 billion euros by the midway point of the five years in June but Keating said the momentum in loan applications meant it would beat the goal.

"We need to increase our average lending over the next 2 1/2 years by 50 percent to achieve our original target. Our latest projections for this period indicate that we will exceed this level and thereby exceed our original target of 33 billion euros," Keating said in a speech.

On when Bank of Ireland would resume paying dividends after the country's banking crisis, Keating said the consensus view among analysts is that the bank will announce a dividend around the time of the publication of its 2016 financial results.

He said he could not confirm the exact timing but that "the day when dividends will resume is certainly getting closer."

Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher told Reuters this month that dividend payments would not resume in the first half of next year and that it would be premature to form a view on whether they would be paid in late 2016 or into 2017. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie