First Active today announced a 29 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to €30.4 million.
Irish operations generated profits of €21.7 million, an increase of 31.5 per cent on the same period last year.
Mortgages, First Active’s core product, grew by 6 per cent to €586 million. Branch-lending activities grew by some 50 per cent in the period, and advances through brokers continued to decline - in line with the bank’s strategy of beefing up its branch network.
Commercial advances grew by 8.3 per cent since year-end and now represent 15.4 per cent of Irish customer loans, First Active said.
First Active sold €80.1 million in new tracker bonds and opened 24,000 special savings incentive accounts before the scheme closed in April. Customer savings in the period rose by €194 million.