PTSB promises to fill banking void

Permanent TSB, which is 99.2 per cent owned by the State, has promised to increase the number of products and services it offers to banking customers in Ireland.

The move comes in response to the decision by Danske Bank and ACC to withdraw from retail and business banking here.

PTSB said it intended to bring forward the introduction of a number of initiatives to meet the need of banking customers. These include the provision of increased resources for small businesses.

It also announced plans to introduce a range of new risk-based mortgage products for the private investor market, such as products designed for Irish citizens living abroad who want to buy investment properties in Ireland.

The bank said it is to lend up to € 100 million to homeowners seeking to avail of the Government's new home renovation incentive scheme, to make improvements to their home. Bank of Ireland announced a similar scheme earlier this week.

PTSB, which is expected to sell its €6.9 billion UK residential mortgage book next year as part of a plan to create a smaller bank, said it has made strong progress this year in growing its current account base and on new mortgage lending.

The bank is now opening 1,000 new current accounts a week and accounted for 16 per cent of residential mortgage approvals in September, up from 2 per cent in December 2012.

PTSB was Ireland’s largest mortgage lender at the peak of the boom and as a result required a €4 billion bailout from the State.

Chief executive Jeremy Masding said the bank was determined to be a force for competition in the market in Ireland.

“Customers are justifiably concerned that competition could reduce in the Irish banking market as a result of departures like these. But for our part, we will use these developments as a spur to grow our business and ensure that other large players don’t simply hoover up disaffected customers from the departing institutions. If business is there to be won, we want to win it,” he said.

PTSB recorded an operating loss of €449 million in the first half of this year but Mr Masding recently said he expected the “good bank” part of the bank to make a profit in 2014.

Last month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned PTSB's return to profit was taking too long but was not "beyond hope."