Anglo Irish Bank today said it was confident of a strong performance over the coming two years with annual profit growth of around 15 per cent over the medium term.
Bank chief executive Mr Sean Fitzpatrick said these targets are very demanding, but achievable.
"We are targeting mid-teen profit growth in 2003 and 2004. It's a challenging target, but we'll do it," he said.
Speaking after the bank's agm in Dublin, he said the company had performed very well in the first three months of the current financial year, with strong lending and profit growth.
"Lending is up because of low interest rates and the expectation that they will remain low," he said, adding, "There is fragility in the economy, not a depression".
Profits at Anglo Irish Bank rose sharply to 261 million, a rise of 34 per cent in the year ending September 2002. Its shares climbed 60 per cent over the same period.