Calls grow for Irish mortgage banks to forgo passing on ECB rate hikes

Experts say Irish banks could absorb the rate increase, with one broker saying they ought to do so 'from a moral viewpoint' 

Broker Michael Dowling says AIB, Bank of Ireland, and Permanent TSB 'definitely have the fat' to absorb the ECB rate hike. File picture

Irish banks have the means to forgo passing on mortgage costs even as the European Central Bank prepares to hike interest rates because their profits are set to lift off when rivals quit the market, experts have said.

Pressure is building on AIB, Bank of Ireland, and Permanent TSB to defer passing on the costs to households as the ECB prepares to unveil its first interest rate increases in over a decade.