ANGLO IRISH BANK has reported a pre-tax loss of €101 million for the first six months of this year, down on the worst results in Irish corporate history for the same period last year.

Having posted a loss of €8.2 billion for the same six month period last year, Anglo’s interim report this time around says that in the six months to June, the total amount of loans unlikely to be repaid fell to €778 million from €4.7 billion for the same time last year.

This reflects a reduction in loan balances and a transfer of assets to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) which took on €34 billion worth of Anglo assets last year at a discount, or haircut, of 62 per cent.

Impaired loans at Anglo now total €16.9 billion which is 52 per cent of overall loan balances, up four per cent from December.

Total assets at Anglo fells by €16.7 billion in the first six months of this year compared to last and customer funding also dropped to €0.7 billion in the first six months of 2011, a fall of €10.4 billion.

Staff costs have fallen by 16 per cent comparative with the same period last year,the bank says this is primarily due to 210 staff being transferred to AIB.

Anglo is already planning to shed 130 jobs. It currently employs 1,075 staff.

Anglo chief executive Mike Aynsley said that the asset quality of the bank’s loan book across all sectors continues to be badly affected by the market conditions and said there was no sign of this easing given that domestic demand in Ireland remains weak.

But he said in a statement: “I believe that the work completed by those in the bank over the last 18 months has paved the way for an orderly and effective work out which is in the best interests of the Irish taxpayer.”

Aynsley later told RTÉ’s News at One that the total cost to the taxpayer of supporting the bank would be between €25 billion and €28 billion, less than previously thought.

He added that the bank will continue to reduce the size of the Anglo Irish balance sheet with the aim of it being completely wound up by 2020.

The bank has already been merged with Irish Nationwide as part of a restructuring programme which sees the new bank known as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

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