Strategic moves taken by AIB after the Rusnak trading scandal has earned the bank a place among Europe's best-performing companies in a list compiled by a business magazine.
The bank is placed in 37th spot on BusinessWeek's new ranking of Europe's best-performing companies, the only Irish company to make the list known as the European BW 50.
The magazine lauded the AIB'S response to the trading scandal that cost it $691 million and singled out chief executive Mr Michael Buckley for particular praise.
Mr Buckley, who offered his resignation in the wake of the Rusnak affair, acted quickly with a "series of quick-witted strategic shifts" to restore investor confidence, Businessweeksaid.
In the past 12 months, AIB has restructured its US operations, introduced a stock-buyback programme, and built up its franchise in Poland. Despite the trading debacle, AIB's profits last year rose to nearly €1.4 billion, as loans jumped 23 per cent, and deposits climbed 13 per cent.
The companies on the list - which only considers publicly quoted companies - are judged by performance measures such as profits, sales growth, and shareholder return. British bank HBOS topped the list.
But Businessweekalso points out there are still risks on AIB'S horizon such as Europe's sluggish economic conditions.
In the view of Merrill Lynch analysts, macro events will "dominate" micro ones in the coming months. "Despite what we view as strong management of the group over the past 12 months, macroeconomic events . . . are conspiring against AIB," Merrill Lynch said in a recent report.
Merrill says falling interest rates, a rise in the euro's value, and a shift to "lower-margin lending" such as mortgages in a sluggish economy mean lower AIB's e earnings per share.
Irish banks like AIB are vulnerable to currency swings since they earn much of their pre-tax profit from overseas.