NATIONAL Irish Bank has become the last of the major Irish banks to increase its lending rates in the latest round of rate increases, with the bank's variable mortgage rate being increased from 6.7 per cent to 7.1 per cent. NIB has also increased its deposit rates by up to 0.5 per cent.

While the 0.4 of a percentage point is a bigger increase than most of the other banks in the current round of rate increases, NIB says that the 7.1 per cent mortgage rate is still among the lowest available in Ireland.

NIB has also increased its AA small business term loan rate from 6.75 per cent to 7.15 per cent and the AA overdraft rate from 9.25 per cent to 9.65 per cent. This 9.675 per cent overdraft rate, says NIB, is 0.3 of a percentage point below other major banks. NIB has made no changes to its AAA rates for large businesses and its term loan rates for private borrowers.