Bank of Ireland has said that the group's trading during the first four months of 2015 has been in line with expectations.

In an interim management statement published ahead of its AGM today, the bank said rising employment and confidence were supporting consumer spending and investment.

As a result, the group grew customer loan volumes to €85 billion in April 2015, up from €82 billion at the end of December 2014.

The bank also reported a strong performance in its UK business. It said the increase in the value of sterling contributed approximately €3 billion to reported loan volumes during the period.

Defaulted loan volumes at the end of March 2015 were lower than the levels at 31 December 2014.

The bank said wholesale funding reduced from €20 billion at December 2014 to €19 billion at end of March 2015.