"While uncertainty remains for our UK business, we've seen nothing material today with regards to asset quality, there's nothing that gives us concern," Francesca McDonagh told Reuters in an interview after the bank restored dividend payments for the first time in a decade.

"For our customers in Ireland, there is an element of uncertainty, particularly for smaller businesses. We do see that two out of three business customers intend to invest in their businesses in the coming years but some of them are applying a wait and see approach."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Jason Neely)