HBOS expansion ahead of target

HBOS Plc’s expansion into Ireland’s consumer banking market is “comfortably ahead” of its expectations, said Mark Duffy, who heads the Irish business.

Bank of Scotland (Ireland), as the Dublin-based unit is known, has opened 16 of its planned 46 branches and will finish the remainder in the first half of 2007, Mr Duffy said.

He declined to say what his expectations were. The expansion is “comfortably within” his budget, he also said.