Bank of Ireland mortgage sales boost

By Eamon Quinn

Bank of Ireland shares tapped into a rare shares rally across Europe, to gain 1.5%, as the lender said it had boosted its mortgage lending and expanded its overall loan book by €500m before it starts selling home loans through brokers next month.

Shares in Bank of Ireland and AIB have been hit by the Italian government’s standoff over its budget, while Brexit concerns and the housing crisis, which limits the number of mortgages available, have also weighed on Irish banks.

But Bank of Ireland, in an interim management statement, said it was trading in line with expectations. The loan book swelled to €76.6bn at the end of September, up €500m from December.

Chief executive Francesca McDonagh told a conference the bank was committed to improving corporate culture and to learning “from the mistakes of the past”.