Bank of Ireland and AIB are both expected to pass the European Union's stress tests on the region's lenders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Bank of Ireland's €2.9 billion fundraising last month gave the lender enough capital to meet the threshold set by EU regulators, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
AIB, the second-biggest lender by market value, passed because regulators included in their calculations the €7.4 billion the bank plans to raise by the end of the year, said another person who declined to be identified.
The Committee of European Banking Supervisors, which is co-ordinating the tests, may yet alter its calculations for AIB, one of the people said.
The lender is selling overseas assets, including its stakes in Poland's Bank Zachodni WBK SA and MandT Bank of the US, to raise the capital it needs. Chairman Dan O'Connor told the company's annual general meeting in May the bank may sell new stock to bolster capital.
The Government has pledged to underwrite the fundraising.
The two lenders are among 91 European banks undergoing stress tests to show whether they can withstand a shrinking economy and drop in the value of government bonds.
Following a stress test of domestic lenders in March, the Financial Regulator instructed the two banks to raise a combined €10 billion by the end of December.
Bloomberg