The risks posed by Brexit mean the State's two biggest banks are unlikely to start paying out dividends until 2018 at the very earliest.
Darren McKinley, senior equity analyst with Merrion Capital, has said Bank of Ireland and AIB will continue to build capital as they brace themselves for the potential negative impact of Britain leaving the European Union.
According to the Irish Independent, McKinley said:
"My thinking is that the first dividend for any of the banks will be March 2018 on the back of full year 2017 results, and that would be at the earliest."
Bank of Ireland had signalled that the timing of a resumption of dividends could be impacted by the Brexit vote as they released their interim results last week.
CEO Richie Boucher told Newstalk Breakfast:
"All we're saying is that a large economy, in which we have a business, has made a momentous decision, and therefore the level of absolute confidence and conviction has to be dialled down somewhat.
"We're not taking it off the table, but it's always important that we do try and give as much guidance to the markets [as possible].
"Now we're not seeing, on the ground, Brexit as having any impact. We have good momentum in on our businesses, but we just have to be a slight bit more cautious."
The bank hasn't paid a dividend since the financial crash.
McKinley's comments come as the two banks were named as the least prepared in Europe for another crash.
In a new survey of 51 lenders by the European Banking Authority, they ranked bottom of the bloc in stress tests.
Owen Callan of Cantor Fitzgerald says the Government needs to taken measures to address the situation:
"I don't think we should be overly concerned, I think we should be aware – that would be the word I would use - that the Irish banks still need to work through this problem.
"That the politicians probably need to support or to perhaps push the Irish banks to continue to work through these problems of loans in arrears.
"There are still a lot of residential home loans in arrears, albeit it is falling and falling at a fairly significant pace, but there is still a large stock of that out there."
