Bankinter boss bullish on Irish business

The three big banks – Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB – have been coining it in recent years, as profits climbed amid higher interest rates and a resurgent domestic economy.

Given the amount of money being made, for those with short memories it was perhaps curious that there appeared to be so little interest from overseas players in entering the Irish market.

Despite those three firms making more than €4 billion in pretax profit for 2024 between them, the lack of international interest is less of a surprise when we think back 15 years and the losses made by so many firms that ramped up Irish operations just as the Celtic Tiger went into overdrive, only to be burned when the crash followed.

Still, Spain’s Bankinter has been brave enough to dip its toes into full consumer banking here under its Avant Money brand.

So far at least, it seems to be going well. Avant, which has had a presence here for several years already, officially became a branch of Bankinter in April, and already Bankinter chief executive Gloria Ortiz is showing her confidence in the Irish operation.

[ Bankinter’s Irish mortgage lending share outstrips home market in SpainOpens in new window ]

She expects to more than double profits in Ireland to about €100 million within four years, compared with €41 million now, the CEO told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Monday.

While Bankinter, along with other big banks, is looking for deals around Europe at present, the increase in Irish profits will be “all organic”, Ms Ortiz added.

Her confidence will no doubt be a fillip to Avant Money here. The firm grew its overall lending 23 per cent to €4 billion in the year to the end of March, with mortgages accounting for about three quarters of that lending.

Ortiz has previously said she expects Avant Money to take in €100 million to €200 million of deposits in 2025, before growing gradually to a stage where the Irish loan book is almost funded by local deposits within eight years.

While we didn’t get an update on those figures in her comments this week, it is clear that Ortiz is bullish on Ireland and its economy.

With so much M&A activity in European banking in general at present, it will be interesting to see if any other big players decide they want a fresh piece of the Irish market.