DUBLIN: State-rescued Anglo Irish Bank said on Tuesday that it expects to report a loss of 17.6 billion euros ($24 billion) for 2010.
The forecast follows "another exceptionally difficult twelve month period for both the Bank and the Irish economy," the nationalised lender said in a statement.
Anglo Irish said the loss included impairment charges of 7.8 billion euros and a loss of 11.5 billion euros from the sale of assets to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) -- a 'bad bank' set up by the Irish government to help stabilise the crippled banking system.
It said that "notwithstanding significant further losses in the year, the group remains in compliance with minimum regulatory capital requirements set by the central bank."
This position was as a result of additional capital support provided by the Irish government which bailed out the bank in early 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
The Irish government set up NAMA to buy soured property loans from banks at a discounted price in a bid to stabilise the sector and remove toxic assets from balance sheets.
Anglo Irish, which had already posted a record loss of 12.7 billion euros in 2009, has been ravaged by the global property market meltdown, resulting in billions of euros in bad debts -- or loans that have to be written off.
It has received 29.3 billion euros in state aid since the start of the financial crisis.
The bank's bleak forecast comes after Dublin was forced to agree an 67.5-billion-euro bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund late last year as the cost of supporting the banks overwhelmed the public finances.
Under mounting pressure, the embattled Irish government last week called a general election for February 25, which it is widely expected lose.
Ireland's main Fine Gael opposition party is on course to lead the country's new government, according to opinion polls, while Prime Minister Brian Cowen has stood down as head of the ruling Fianna Fail party ahead of the vote.
Ireland became the second member of the eurozone after Greece to seek a bailout and the government has rushed through a package of austerity measures as a pre-condition to receiving the loans.
Citing concerns about the health of its banking sector, Standard & Poor's last week downgraded its short- and long-term debt ratings for Ireland by one notch.
S&P, one of the top three international ratings agencies, also lowered its ratings on four Irish banks, including Anglo Irish.
Downgrades by ratings agencies tend to ramp up the costs of borrowing on international financial markets for those targeted.
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