Bank of Scotland has done most of us plenty of favours by upsetting the cosy little club that was the Irish mortgage market.

If the Scots hadn't arrived on the scene it is fair to say that we would still be paying mortgage rates of 5 per cent or above, rather than the sub-4 per cent rates we are now getting (before the ECB hiked its rates).

Bank of Scotland has so far failed to say how much of the £250 million (€317 million) of loan approvals in its Irish business have translated into actual loans.

But the Scots seem happy enough with the Irish business to plan a similar assault on the Dutch home loans market, even though the Dutch lenders do not enjoy the same fat margins as the Irish banks.

Still, Dutch mortgage lenders will be looking at Bank of Scotland's assault on their market with a certain trepidation.

The suggestion is that if Bank of Scotland can carve out a piece of the Dutch market then it will be the template for similar moves into other euro zone mortgage markets.

One difference between Bank of Scotland's Irish and planned Dutch mortgage business is that mortgages in Holland will not be sold over the phone - instead the Internet will be the sales channel.