The chairman of Allied Irish Banks has said that paying back the cash injected to the bank by the state “remains the constant focus” of the board and management.

Pointing out that the bank had already paid back €2 billion to the state in fees relating to the government guarantees, David Hodgkinson said that his priority is to ensure a return to the State while playing a role in the country’s economic recovery.

In addition to this, Hodgkinson also announced that chief executive David Duffy has agreed to a permanent contract with the bank. His previous three year deal was to have expired in December.

An interim management statement was issued by the bank in May of this year, with first half results to follow at the end of July.

The bank pointed to a number of recent milestones as evidence of progress it made during 2013, most notably the approval of its restructuring plan by the European Commission.

Hodgkinson said that the fundamentals of the bank are “more positive” this year, following AIB’s return to profitability last month.

He detailed plans to lend between €7 billion and €10 billion for mortgages, business and personal lending every year up to 2017.

Debt restructuring

Hodgkinson promised that the bank is making “real and tangible inroads” into restructuring the borrowings of SME and mortgage customers struggling under their debt burdens.

He said that the bank’s priority is to keep people in their homes where possible, to support viable companies and jobs, and to ensure a return for AIB while dealing with customers in a “fair and equitable manner”.

He also said that the bank would consider measures to reduce the number of shares in issue, 99.8% of which are owned by the Government.

The bank has an “extraordinary” 523 billion shares in issue.

Read: AIB is back in the black>

Read: AIB wrote off €2 billion in SME debt in the last year>