Northern Rock has more than doubled the number of its Irish accounts in the past year. The amount put on deposit by customers in Ireland was up 60 per cent to €555 million (£437 million), as accounts grew to nearly 15,000 from just over 7,000.

According to Northern Rock, about 70 per cent of the new accounts are Direct Saver accounts, 15 per cent are Special Savings Incentive Accounts and 15 per cent are bonds.

Northern Rock opened an office in Dublin in November 1999, offering a variable rate deposit account for personal customers.

This week the bank announced that, from February 1st, the rate of interest on its SSIAs will increase by 0.25 of a percentage point to 3.5 per cent for customers saving a minimum of €50 a month. The rate will be guaranteed to remain 0.25 of a percentage point above the European Central Bank (ECB) Base Rate until January 1st, 2003. It will then revert to the ECB base rate.

Northern Rock has also introduced a combined fixed rate bond and equity-linked tracker bond, which will be available from February 1st.

The bank reported an 18 per cent rise in profits to £295.2 million sterling (€482.4 million) for 2001. It did, however, more than double its provisions against bad loans, but said this was in line with the rapid growth in its loan book.

Northern Rock, which specialises in home loans, has been one of the sector's top performing stocks through 2001. Profits were ahead of market expectations.