Avant loan book remains at €4bn as deposits offering awaited
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 company officially become a branch of Bankinter in April. Irish consumers are now awaiting a launch of a deposits offering from Avant, which is led by chief executive Niall Corbett.
Avant'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.
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.
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Bankinter boss bullish on Irish business
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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.
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