EBS Building Society has announced a pre-tax surplus of €53.8m for 2005, a 9% increase on the previous year's figure of €49.5m.
The building society said that gross lending rose by 22% to €3.8 billion while its overall loan book rose by 20% to €12.2 billion. Residential mortgage advances were up by 27%.
The ESB also said today that it will enter into new relationships with Irish Life and Allianz under bancassurance arrangements, which it says will deliver a range of new products and services this year.
During the year, the EBS began originating mortgages through the broker channel for the first time. It said that this initiative has gone very well and it expects that there will be an even stronger new business flow from this source in 2006.
The ESB said its 'mutuality dividend' to members increased by 10% to €22.5m in 2005.
'We have delivered a good set of results for 2005 in what was a very competitive business climate. There has been strong year on year growth in both our lending and savings businesses,' commented Ted McGovern, the building society's CEO.
Mr McGovern again restated the EBS' commitment to mutuality and said that in the context of the expected Building Societies legislation, EBS would emerge as the only mutual in Ireland focussed on delivering long-term value for its members as opposed to maximising short-term profitability.
