Annual profits at Allied Irish Banks fell 59 per cent after a 17-fold increase in its bad debt provisions to reflect future losses on its Irish and UK property loan book.

The loan loss provision jumped from €106m to €1.8bn (£1.6bn, $2.24bn) in the year to December 31 – more than two-thirds of the charge was incurred on the bank’s €71bn Irish loan book. The group’s pre-tax profit fell from €2.5bn to €1bn.