ICS Building Society, the Bank of Ireland owned mortgage lender, has announced an increase in pre-tax profits of 24 per cent to €113.4 million for 2005.
The lender advanced €1.7 billion in new mortgages last year, an increase of 22 per cent on 2004, and said there had been a strong start to 2006.
Its mortgage book grew 22 per cent in value to €5.2 billion, while its deposit book was up 13.9 per cent to €3.3 billion.
The fees and commissions it received increased by 28 per cent to €66.3 million.
This includes the fee income it receives for processing loans on behalf of Bank of Ireland.
ICS managing director Joe Larkin said strong economic forces, including population and employment growth, were still in place and that interest rate increases had little impact on the housing market.
"Rate changes have been well flagged and, in the main, offset by wage increases," Mr Larkin said.
The European Central Bank has increased its base interest rate by half a percentage point since December and ICS said it expected rates to go up by a further half or three-quarters of a percentage point.
Net interest income at ICS Building Society amounted to €82.7 million in 2005, an increase of 10 per cent. Operating expenses rose 6 per cent to €24.8 million.
The Bank of Ireland subsidiary had total assets of €7.2 billion, an increase of 25 per cent.
The company's liquidity ratio was 28.5 per cent and the cost-income ratio decreased by 3 per cent to 20.3 per cent.
