Bank of Ireland watching tracker mortgage moves closely

DUBLIN Feb 20 (Reuters) - Bank of Ireland has not discussed moving its loss-making tracker mortgage book off its balance sheet but will closely watch any developments should any of the country's other lenders do so, its chief executive said on Monday.

Ireland's government is considering moving tracker mortgages from state-controlled Allied Irish Banks and permanent tsb into off-balance sheet vehicles, with local media reporting that the talks were at an advanced stage last month.

"It's not a conversation that we have had to date but obviously we would watch any developments like that closely," Richie Boucher told an analyst call.

Tracker mortgages make up more than 50 percent of Irish banks' residential property loans and although performing, they are not earning due to a mismatch between high funding costs and the low ECB rate which the products track.