Avant Money’s loan book remained stable at €4 billion at the end of June compared to the close of the previous quarter, but up by a fifth on the year, according to its Spanish parent, Bankinter.
The Irish company’s mortgage book expanded by 22 per cent to €3 billion in the 12 months to the end of June, Bankinter said in an investor presentation as it reported quarterly figures. The portfolio was flat on the quarter. Its consumer portfolio grew by 13 per cent to €1 billion, year-on-year.
Avant, led by chief executive Niall Corbett, officially become a branch of Bankinter in April. Irish consumers are now awaiting a launch of a deposits offering in the coming months from Avant, before the lender moves into other banking products.
“Bankinter continues to grow [in Ireland], albeit at a slower pace than in recent years, resulting in broadly stable profitability,” said Davy analyst Diarmaid Sheridan, noting that Avant’s share of new Irish mortgage lending remained stable at 6 per cent compared to the first quarter.
RM Block
Bankinter executives said on a call with analysts that Irish mortgage lending during the most recent quarter was affected by seasonality. They said that they are expecting “quite good” activity in Irish home loans in the second half.
Net interest income rose by 15 per cent to €55 million in the first half of the year, while pretax profit nudged 2 per cent higher to €21 million, according to the presentation.
Avant’s non-performing loans ratio remained healthy at 0.3 per cent.
[ Bankinter boss bullish on Irish businessOpens in new window ]
Bankinter chief executive Gloria Oritz previously said that she expects Avant Money to gather €100 million-€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.
Its digital, rather than branch network, strategy means that Avant’s running costs equated to 47 per cent of total income in the first half, below the typical target of about 50 per cent for a retail banks. However, Bankinter’s ratio was 36 per cent.
The wider Bankinter group saw its pretax profit rise 7 per cent in the first half to €766 million.
Bankinter, the fifth-largest Spanish bank, entered the Republic in 2019 through the acquisition of AvantCard, a credit card and consumer finance business, from US investment group Apollo.
AvantCard was subsequently renamed Avant Money, which moved into Irish mortgages in late 2020 with headline rates that undercut the cheapest home loans available at the time in the market.
Bankinter move in April to turn Avant into a branch of the group meant it was the first traditional lender from overseas to move to enter the Irish retail banking market since March 2005, when Bank of Scotland moved to buy 52 former ESB shops to set up a boots-on-the-ground banking operation and Copenhagen-based Danske Bank took over National Irish Bank. Bank of Scotland and Danske Ireland would exit Irish retail banking after the crash.
The final two overseas banks in the market, Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland, decided four years ago to wind down gradually.
