Profits at the Irish operations of Spanish lender Bankinter rose by 20% in the first half of the year.
The bank, which owns Avant Money, recorded a pre-tax profit of €20m from its lending in Ireland when compared to the same period of last year.
Publishing its mid-year results, Bankinter said investment reached €3.5 billion, 41% more than a year ago.
It added that of this, €2.6 billion is mortgages and the portfolio grew by 51% in the period.
€0.9 billion came from its consumer credit arm, up 19% on the same period last year.
Its Irish cost-to-income ratio came in at 45%.
“It is worth noting that the non-performing loan ratio of the business in Ireland is barely 0.3%,” it added in its half-year statement.
In April, Bankinter said it intends to formally set up an Irish banking branch, using its Avant Money subsidiary.
This will enable it to offer a wider range of financial products and services here into the future, boosting competition.
Initially the new business will begin with offering deposit products, on top of the mortgages, personal loans and credit cards it currently provides, with an expectation that other services will follow.
The bank does not intend to apply for a full banking licence from the Central Bank of Ireland, but will instead use its existing Bank of Spain and European Central Bank authorisations to offer services here under EU passporting rules.
“The current plans of the Bankinter Group involve the launch, staggered over time, of a consumer-oriented digital bank that will allow Irish consumers to expand the offering of savings products, with the possibility of subsequently extending it to other financial services,” it said in its results presentation today.
Overall, Bankinter raised its forecast for 2024 lending income thanks to interest rates remaining higher than initially expected.
This helped the bank beat estimates with a 17% year-on-year increase in second-quarter net profit.
Spanish banks are mainly retail lenders and have benefited from higher interest rates that are passed on to customers through floating rates while they have kept a lid on the rates they pay on deposits.
Bankinter’s quarterly net interest income (NII), earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 7% year-on-year to €583m, beating the €577m seen by analysts.
NII was up 1% versus the previous quarter.