The IFSC unit of WestLB AG, the German bank, paid a dividend of €14.75 million to its Dusseldorf-based parent in respect of its activities last year, according to newly filed accounts in the Companies Office.

In addition to its €14.75 million dividend for 2005, an additional dividend of €17 million was paid out for 2004 as a prior-year adjustment in light of the accounting standard FRS 21, bringing the total dividend to nearly €32 million. The standard in question dealt with "events after the balance sheet date".

The Irish bank had 10 staff in 2005 and it made pretax profits of €17.52 million, down some 8.6 per cent on the previous year.

The accounts also reveal that the bank's parent moved last year to sell the Dublin business, known as the WestLB Covered Bond Bank, but changed its mind several months later. The bank concentrates on low-risk public sector financing, a sector that came to prominence when another German bank, Depfa, moved its head office to Dublin.

The managing director of WestLB's IFSC unit, Micheal Doherty, said a decision to sell the business followed the enactment of legislation last July which made it easier to carry on the public sector financing business in Germany.

He said there had been plenty of interest in the business from prospective buyers, but that the sale process was cancelled last January. "It was decided to realign WestLB Covered Bond Bank's business in the global public finance business in WestLB," he said. "The sale process is off so we're firmly focused on the business."

While shareholders' funds on the balance sheet grew to €15.4 billion from €11.08 billion, the accounts indicate that the sale procedure had a negative impact on the bank's financial performance. "A strategic decision by the shareholder to pursue a sale process in 2005 meant that issuance of asset-covered securities was confined to covered medium-term notes. As a result, profit margins did not grow in correlation to asset acquisition," the directors' report said.

Debts securities held as financial fixed assets grew to €14.27 billion from €10.02 billion. Securities acquired were valued at €6.34 billion while disposals were worth €1.91 billion. Net interest income declined to €15.61 million while operating income, mostly on the disposal of securities, rose to €7.35 million from €2.52 million. It paid out €1.8 million in corporation tax.