BoI lending to SMEs up 13%

Bank of Ireland’s lending to the SME sector increased 13% to €4.5bn last year compared with the previous year.

There was a total of 61,000 credit applications during the 12-month period with an 88% approval rate.

“Agriculture continued to be a very important growth sector for the bank, with overall approvals to the sector exceeding €620m, a 19% increase over the previous year; €135m was approved for land purchase and we approved funding for over 24,000 acres of land. The demand for agri overdraft permissions also increased and we continued to grow our customer base,” said its director of business banking, Mark Cunningham.