Home lender and corporate bank IIB had profits of more than €100 million last year and boosted its assets by 33 per cent.

IIB reported yesterday that it had net operating income of €167 million in 2005, 8 per cent ahead of the €155 million it posted the previous year.

Operating expenses were level at €55.5 million, and the bank provided €569,000 for impairment losses on loans and advances, leaving it with operating profits of €110.8 million last year.

This was a 10 per cent increase on the €100.5 million operating profit it recorded in 2004.

A €10.8 million tax bill left it with profits for 2005 of €100 million, just over 11 per cent up on the previous year's surplus of €90.6 million. Its balance sheet shows that total assets increased by 33 per cent last year to €17.6 billion, from €13.25 billion in 2004.

IIB Bank's loan book was the biggest contributor to this. Its value grew by €3.2 billion in 2005 to €12.7 billion from €9.5 billion a year earlier. Its cash balances grew €1.1 billion to €4 billion from €2.9 billion during the same period.

Chief executive Ted Marah said its businesses grew across the board. Mortgages performed strongly and there was an increase in corporate finance activity, particularly with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Mr Marah said that the net value of home loans advanced by the bank was €3.6 billion in 2005. In 2004, the bank said it was €2.2 billion, giving it growth of over 60 per cent. IIB is one of the biggest players in the Republic's home lending market.

Mr Marah predicted that the mortgage business would continue to grow this year, although the rate of increase in house prices would slow. "If you look back four years, we had annual growth of 15 per cent," he said. "It was 9 per cent on average last year, and it should be less than that in 2006, because supply is continuing to catch up with demand."

New regulatory stipulations will require banks to increase the amount of money they provide for bad debts against home loans for sums of 80 per cent or more of the property's value. IIB said yesterday that it was not concerned about this. During the year, Bishopstown Credit Union in Cork signed an agreement with IIB to provide the bank's mortgages to its members. This was the first deal of its kind in the Republic.

Mr Marah said the bank was pleased with the rate at which its SME business was growing. He said this was largely down to its decision to put resources into regional offices in centres like Belfast, Cork, Galway and elsewhere.