Canadian banking group Bank of Nova Scotia has increased annual pretax profits at its Irish unit by 50 per cent to nearly $125 million (€101.65 million), according to newly-filed accounts.

The accounts show that a net profit of $108.99 million in the year to October brought the overall profits accumulated by Scotiabank (Ireland) Ltd in its Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) operation to $744.57 million. The bank paid out dividends of only $899,000 in the year.

In spite of the increase in profits, the total recognised gain at the Irish operation was significantly less than in the previous year as a result of a $33.17 million loss on the retranslation of net foreign currency investments. This brought the recognised gains in the business down to $75.83 million.

The comparable figure for the previous financial year was $139.19 million, comprising a $61.75 million gain on the retranslation of net foreign currency investments, which was added to the net profit of $77.44 million.

The bank's Irish unit employs 39 staff and offers wholesale banking, investment banking, treasury management and other financial services to domestic and European corporations. Its wage bill rose to $4.21 million in the year from $3.72 million in the previous period and its nine directors received emoluments of $615,000 in the year.

Companies Office records, which are not yet publicly available, indicate that PricewaterhouseCoopers has resigned as auditor to Scotiabank Ireland. Phone calls to the bank yesterday were unanswered.

Scotiabank Ireland's corporation tax bill rose to $15.93 million from $4.39 million a year earlier. Like all other IFSC-based companies, the 10 per cent tax rate on financial services that applied to Scotiabank Ireland rose to 12.5 per cent at the start of this year when the regime that applied since the IFSC opened in 1987 came to an end.

Signed off on December 16th, the latest accounts say that the bank's net interest income rose to $65.35 million from $45.91 million its other income rose to $73.04 million from $45.12 million. The other income included dealing profits of $30.14 million, up from $13.96 million, most of which were derived from trading in derivatives. Gains on the sale of investments rose to $31.02 million from $20.67 million and fees and commissions rose to $11.38 million from $8.9 million.