National Irish Bank says it returned to profit in the first three months of 2007, helped by a 55% jump in total lending.
Pre-tax profits were €5.4m, compared with a loss of €5.4m in the same period last year. The bank's figures have been affected by costs linked with its takeover by Danske Bank. NIB said profits excluding these costs in the first quarter were €13.8m.
NIB said lending to personal customers rose by 59%, helped by a strong performance from its loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage, which links the interest rate to the value of the property. The bank said LTV approvals have now topped €1 billion.
Lending to businesses climbed by 53%. Customer deposits were up 26%.
Chief executive Andrew Healy the number of people switching to its LTV mortgage from other banks was compensating it for a softening in new business.
Meanwhile, parent company Denmark's Danske Bank, posted a higher-than-expected rise in first-quarter pretax profit.
The Nordic region's second-biggest financial group posted pretax profits of 5.3 billion crowns (€712m).
This was up from last year's first quarter profit of €590m.
Danske said it expected the healthy economic climate in its home market Denmark to continue in 2007, although with growth rates lower than in 2006.
