ACCBank, the Irish subsidiary of the Dutch group Rabobank, has doubled post-tax profits to €29.7 million in the 12 months to the end of December 2003.

This compares to a post-tax profit of €14.4 million in 2002 when the company took a €1.8 million charge to cover a voluntary severance scheme and a €8.5 million charge for costs related to the takeover by Rabobank.

Operating income grew by 24 per cent to €126.5 million, of which fee income represented €24.1 million. Overall lending grew from €2.7 billion to €4.4 billion while gross assets increased by 67 per cent to €6 billion.

The bank reported strong growth in lending to the retail and leisure sectors. Business banking now accounts for over 80 per cent of the loan book, with its traditional business area of agribusiness accounting for the remainder.

"ACCBank enjoyed strong profit and business growth during the year under review. This is a direct result of the progress we have made in re-focusing the bank's operations to concentrate on the business and agribusiness sectors, as well as the investment market," said the bank's chief executive, Mr Colm Darling, in a statement.

Co-operative owned Rabobank, which has been linked to the EBS Building Society, is looking at investment opportunities in the Irish financial services market, according to Mr Jan Molenaar, deputy chief executive of ACCBank.

"We have achieved strong growth across all sectors most notably in the retail, construction, healthcare and leisure sectors. We have a very positive view of the Irish economy and our parent Rabobank are very happy.

"Our success can be attributed to... the development of our business models for the business and agribusiness sectors," he said.