Bank of Ireland is set to cut 1,400 jobs after devastating losses of €669 million, it has been reported.
The bank was hit by the losses in the first six months of 2020.
It has now begun a voluntary redundancy programme that will cut the workforce down from 10,400 to less than 9,000.
Bank officials said they had put aside €937 million primarily to cover the losses incurred by Covid-19 loan repayment breaks.
Bank of Ireland CEO Francesca McDonagh said the organisation had granted 105,000 payment breaks across both Ireland and the UK due to the pandemic.
Ms McDonagh added that the group's impairment charge throughout 2020 is expected to be around €1.1 billion to €1.3 billion.
She told RTE Radio: "We're being prudent and comprehensive in taking that large provision. Everything has to be seen through the prism of Covid-19.
"Two thirds relate to expected credit losses, one third is actual credit losses.
"We're being quite clear to the market today that we would see the majority of the full year impairment charge - between 70 and 85% of the full year - being taken in the first six months.
"We are seeing in Ireland that just over half of mortgage payment breaks were asking for another three months and slightly more of Irish SMEs.
"Those numbers are what we expected, but the reality is that some of those payment breaks will struggle after that second three months."
