Nonperforming loans at Ireland's five main domestically focused banks stoodat €45 billion at the end of June, or 19% of their combined loan portfolio, theCentral Bank ofIreland's Director of Credit Institutions Supervision, Ed Sibley,said in a Sept. 30 speech on NPLs.

He highlighted that NPLs among loans extended to SMEs, corporates and otherbusinesses had declined more quickly since the beginning of 2015 than thoseamong retail loans such as residential mortgages. The former fell almost €21billion, or 54%, during that period, while the latter shrank by €10 billion, or27%, which means that retail NPLs made up 60% of the entire NPL stock in June,up from about 40% two years ago.