About Myles O'grady
Myles O'Grady, Group Chief Executive of Bank of Ireland, has commented on the potential impact of U.S. trade tariffs on the Irish economy. In March 2025, he stated that while there is a risk from trade tariffs, Ireland entered that situation from a "position of strength," noting that Ireland exports about 18% to the U.S. He also expressed confidence in Taoiseach Micheál Martin's ability to highlight the strong relationship between Ireland and the U.S. during a meeting at the White House. In February 2025, O'Grady acknowledged that it would be "naive not to recognize that there is a risk from trade tariffs," but emphasized the broader stability and resilience of the Irish economy, which he said is expected to grow about 12% over the next three years, supported by government spending, business sentiment, and consumer spending.
O'Grady has also discussed Bank of Ireland's financial performance and outlook. In February 2025, he reported strong full-year 2024 results with profits of 1.9 billion euros, and set a target to keep the bank's cost base in the region of 2 billion euros over the next three years. He has stated that the bank expects to achieve returns of 15% over the next number of years, supported by a concentrated and growing Irish market. On the topic of commercial real estate, O'Grady has expressed optimism for high-quality office space in good locations, while noting that areas in less favorable locations or condition are vulnerable. He has also highlighted the demand for new homes in Ireland, stating that the bank is funding about 18,000 homes being built against an annual demand of about 35,000.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Myles O'grady's recent appearances.
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Transcript (11 segments)
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Julia0:06
Welcome back to Quest Means Business. Ireland's economy was still in recession during the last quarter of 2023, but relief appears to be on the way. The European Commission projecting that Ireland will return to modest growth this year. Ireland's economy was expanding dramatically before the recent slowdown, that growth driven at least in part by the country's low corporate tax rates. It had to raise those rates because of new OECD rules. The Taoiseach will have a huge platform to pitch Ireland as a business destination tomorrow, and the Taoiseach will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House, a St. Patrick's Day tradition. Myles O'Grady is the CEO of the Bank of Ireland. His company just extended the lease for its New York office. Fantastic to have you on the show. Happy almost St. Patrick's Day celebration. Let's talk about extending your presence with that NYC hub. I believe it's for another ten years. It's the commercial gateway for Irish businesses looking to invest in the United States and vice versa. What are you seeing and what does it say about both sides?
M
Myles O'Grady1:09
Well, good afternoon, Julia. And an early St. Patrick's Day to you as well. Yeah, for sure. I mean, Bank of Ireland has been doing business in the United States now for nearly 50 years, and in that context, it's all about supporting American businesses active in Ireland. There are about a thousand US businesses employing 200,000 people in Ireland, and of course vice versa, a lot of Irish businesses want to be active in the US as well. So our New York City hub is really important to us. It provides a platform, particularly for entrepreneurs and for startups, to use the facility to run their business, to meet clients, meet investors. We're very happy to support that part of our business and to keep it going.
J
Julia1:53
We are just showing where it is as well, to Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan, not cheap. Did you get a deal? Where did you negotiate?
M
Myles O'Grady2:02
We're happy with the deal. You know, there's lots of pressure on commercial real estate. We've done well for the next ten years for sure.
J
Julia2:09
What, what can you tell me about that by the way? On commercial real estate, what's your view at the moment?
M
Myles O'Grady2:13
It is highly topical, certainly in the United States, but obviously, I think you're right, and not just in the United States, really globally across Europe and then Ireland. There's a degree of pressure there. The combination of increased interest rates but also changing habits and how people come to work is a factor. But actually high-quality office space in good locations that are new or being refurbished, I feel that's going to perform strongly. Areas that possibly are not in such good locations or not in such good condition may be under some pressure. But actually when you look through to the medium term, I think we can expect to see a pickup in demand for office space.
J
Julia2:56
Yeah, so it's quality over quantity to your point. I think at this point in time, at least now, I look to your latest results. Now, they don't suggest any form of technical or even mild recession in Ireland. Record-breaking pre-tax profits. I know you're amid a strategic transformation as well. What are you seeing from customers at this moment? What trends should we be watching?
M
Myles O'Grady3:16
But where were we? It's completely year one of our three-year strategy. We have had a strong financial performance. Our whole market, particularly in Ireland, loan growth 23% and increasing customer numbers 8%. And indeed wealth assets up as well. We know some of the biggest factors driving Bank of Ireland's performance, particularly in our role to support the Irish economy, is very much around the housing market. So our mortgage book grew 8% last year. And of course that's all about making sure we can provide the right funding to put people into homes. And on the wealth side as well, there's a real opportunity. There's a lot of cash in the Irish system, and therefore the opportunity to offer both deposits and more sophisticated wealth products is a factor for sure in customer preferences. And of course within all of that, there is very much a desire on customers to increase their digital usage, use online more. That's not unusual for any bank and indeed not unusual for Bank of Ireland.
J
Julia4:14
Yeah, normally what would happen is mortgage customers and taxpayers would look at those kinds of earnings and profits and be disgruntled. Investors would really like them. I have to ask you why you think investors sold the share price, or sold the stock when you presented these results, when it was down 10% on the day. Sort of a bit of a head-scratcher to me.
M
Myles O'Grady4:35
Yeah, it is certainly interesting. I've been having some very good conversations with our investors over the last two weeks. We had profits of 1.9 billion for last year. That's the strongest level ever. And of course, facilitated the return of capital, so distributions of 1.15 billion. When I listen to investors, it seems to me that there is a broader question here, not just about Bank of Ireland, but about European banks: as interest rates come down, can a European bank maintain a double-digit percentage return on equity? And for sure, Bank of Ireland, we can. In Ireland, the equity story is really about a concentrated market that's going to grow. And that certainly supports the targets that we have out there. We expect to have returns of 15% over the next number of years.
J
Julia5:21
Yeah, we have to see how much they've gotten to your point, how much you can pass on to...
