National Irish Bank (NIB) reported a 55 per cent increase in total lending in the first quarter, boosted by the ongoing popularity of its LTV (loan-to-value) mortgage product.

Releasing results yesterday for the three months to the end of March, the bank said that it had also made good progress in the SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) and corporate banking markets.

Lending to these customers increased by 53 per cent as the bank won significant new business from clients including General Electric following a recruitment drive. Lending to personal customers increased by 50 per cent while deposits were 26 per cent ahead.

Andrew Healy, NIB's chief executive, said the bank was benefiting significantly from the integration of technology used by its parent, Danske Bank. "We are proving particularly attractive to businesses which trade outside the Republic of Ireland as our technology helps them to save time and money," he said. "As a result, we have seen a number of high-profile businesses move to NIB over the past few months."

Overall, Mr Healy said NIB was seeing a real momentum build in its business. "We have had a strong start to the year and our performance trends are very encouraging," he said, adding that lending growth was significantly ahead of the market average.

Total income increased 28 per cent to €43 million, while loans and advances stood at €7.6 billion. Pre-tax profit was €5.4 million.

Danske Bank, which took over NIB last year, yesterday revealed a 22 per cent rise in first-quarter profit to 3.8 billion Danish kroner (€510 million). This figure, however, was boosted by its purchase of Sampo Bank, which took effect in February. On a pro-forma basis, first-quarter profit was up 10 per cent on the year-earlier period, while income increased 8 per cent to almost DkK 11 billion.

Lending grew by 14 per cent, with units outside Denmark accounting for 67 per cent of the total growth.