BOI to raise €10bn in financing first

BANK OF IRELAND plans to use a new form of financing to raise up to €10 billion to fund its lending programme over the next five years.

The bank will be the first in Ireland to take advantage of a 2001 change in Irish law and will issue bonds secured on its €30bn portfolio of mortgages on homes in Ireland and Britain.

Chief executive Mike Soden said it was an example of innovative legislation and the bank's technical capabilities combining to deliver a "truly mould-breaking" way of raising finance.