Bank to raise its variable rates 0.5% within weeks

THE country’s biggest bank AIB is to raise the cost of mortgages by 0.5% within weeks and has called on the Government to extend the bank guarantees for a further year.

AIB’s chief executive Colm Doherty flagged the standard variable mortgage rate hike when announcing first half losses of more than €2 billion, the biggest in the bank’s history.

On mortgages, the bank said it had no other option but to follow the increases of other banks including Bank of Ireland, which on Tuesday raised its variable rate by 0.49%.