Finance Ireland aims to grow 'significantly' as it launches 20-year fixed rate mortgage loans

Finance Ireland — the lender that started selling residential mortgages less than three years ago — said it aims to grow "significantly" to win as much as 15% of the home-loans market, as it launched a 20-year, fixed-rate mortgage for the first time. 

The lender plans to offer a mortgage for a loan-to-value of up to 90% of the property, at a rate that is fixed over 15 years of 2.8%. 

It will offer a mortgage at the same loan-to-value term, but fixed for 20 years, at 2.99%.

Donal Doran, managing director of residential mortgages at Finance Ireland, said the lender aims to increase its share of the mortgage market to between 10% and 15% in the next few years, from its existing share of 4.7%. 

Set up by Billy Kane, Finance Ireland is 30%-owned by the Government's Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (Isif). 

It expanded into residential mortgages in recent years by tapping funding form M&G, which is a division of the UK's Prudential, and sells through brokers.

It comes at a key time for the Irish mortgage market as Permanent TSB and Bank of Ireland are due to benefit most from the exit of Ulster Bank and KBC from banking in the Republic.

Ulster has a 15% share of the home-loans market and KBC a share of around 12.5%.