THE insurance group, Eureko Ireland, is expanding its operations to offer its customers personal loans, credit cards and mortgages.

Eureko, which owns the life assurance company Friends Provident, and the general insurance firms, Celtic Insurance and Touchline, will provide its range of financial services through a new company, Eureko Ireland Finance, it said yesterday.

Eureko Ireland Finance, will initially offer car leasing services and personal loan facilities to its'current customer base and intends to eventually widen that market, according to its managing director, Mr Adrian Hegarty.

Once the company is established, Mr Hegarty said, it will begin to develop other services, such as credit cards, mortgages and deposit accounts. One of these services, he said, will be available before Christmas.

Its loans and leasing packages, he said, will be very competitive, with a typical personal loan available at around 11 per cent, according to Mr Hegarty.

Eureko, which is part of the international Eureko Alliance group, is the first Irish-based insurance company to move into the traditional banking sector.

The new company will employ six,

`people, including Mr David Taylor, a former sales director of Bank of Ireland Finance and Premier Banking, who has been appointed operations director of the new company.

Eureko reported strong recovery in its profits last year, with pretax, profits up 57 per cent to £4.4 million. After tax, its net profits were £3.7 million, reversing its losses of £0.8 million in the previous year.

Most of the losses were incurred in its motor insurance business.