IN its first move into the retail savings market in Britain, First National Building Society is inviting savers to invest by telephone and by post.

Through a new direct telephone operation in Britain, potential investors will be offered three new deposit accounts.

Investors who want to make a minimum deposit of £500 by phone or by post will be offered a 30, 60 or 90 day notice savings account with interest rates based on the sum invested.

The new telephone operation has been set up at the Mortgage Trust headquarters in Epsom in Surrey and employs 20 people. First National's head of direct services in Britain, Mr Paschal O'Flaherty, said that the products will be sold through newspaper advertisements.

While the initial target market is the Irish ethnic community of about four million people, Mr O'Flaherty commented that the whole British market of 56 million people "will be our market".

Detailed investment targets have not been set, he said. "We are more interested initially in building a platform to go forward by establishing a customer base and ensuring customer loyalty and tenure", he explained.

First National plans "to offer top rates across all notice periods and investment bands rather than offering the top rate on one or two key bands or periods just to grab the headlines", he said.

There is already plenty of tele sales experience at Mortgage Trust and First National already has a dedicated processing unit at Epsom, he said.

Mortgage Trust, acquired by First National for £20.5 million at the end of 1994, operates a tele sales service for financial intermediaries and brokers.

This week the First National group reported profits of £24 million for 1995.