While lending to other countries has more than doubled over the last decade, it remains below the average, as Irish banks such as AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB stick closely to the domestic market.
“Irish banks’ foreign and euro-area claims as a percentage of total consolidated assets remain below those of their euro-area peers, reflecting a greater degree of home bias,” says the study written by Stefano Tocchetti, an economist with the bank. The findings underline the fact that efforts to build a single European banking market have stalled over the past decade.
The benefit of Irish banks lending to foreign countries is that they would be less vulnerable to domestic shocks. For consumers, it is useful if foreign banks can step in and offer credit if local banks are squeezed.
On the other hand, extensive cross-border lending would expose Irish banks to economic turbulence in other countries.
The financial crisis led to a huge reduction in the amount of foreign assets that Irish banks held and prompted them to tilt their balance sheets back to the local market. At that point, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society and the Educational Building Society were players in the sector too.
The foreign portfolio of Irish banks appears more diversified
Foreign claims – loans and debt securities – as a share of assets fell from a high of 46pc in the third quarter of 2008 to 31pc by the end of the bailout programme in the third quarter of 2013.
The value of foreign credit fell by 66pc in that period and in the euro area it was down 79pc. There has been a steady growth since then, as Irish banks rebuilt their balance sheets.
“Claims on the euro area are now the most significant source of international exposures for Irish banks, reaching €28bn in Q3 of 2025 Q3, more than double the level of Q4 in 2013,” says the study.
“Their share of total consolidated assets has increased by roughly 4.3 percentage points, reaching 8.1pc in Q3 of 2025.”
These loans are mostly booked from the Irish offices of the three pillar banks, rather than through local branches or subsidiaries in other countries. France is Ireland’s biggest counter-party in the euro area.
The credit extended by Irish banks to the rest of the eurozone is going mostly to the official sector and other banks. In the third quarter of last year, only 25pc of loans were to non-banks, compared to 39pc for the public sector and 37pc for other banks.
The share of credit to non-banks is lower than the euro-area average, which is 52pc, the study finds.
“The foreign portfolio of Irish banks appears more diversified compared to a decade ago, with UK exposures having notably reduced,” it says. “As of 2025 Q3, Irish banks’ claims on the UK stood at €46bn, down from a peak of €171bn in Q2 of 2007.”
Overall it says more progress is needed to achieve an integrated market for retail banking to complete the EU banking union “and reap the benefits of risk sharing, risk diversification and more resilient access to funding that such union would bring”.
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