Finance Ireland ‘temporarily’ pulls its most popular longer-term fixed-rate loans – The Irish Times

Finance Ireland, the non-bank lender, said that it is “temporarily suspending” offering fixed-rate mortgages of 10 years or longer, amid heightened volatility on the international debt markets.

The lender, led by chief executive Billy Kane, last year introduced 15- and 20-year mortgages to the market as non-banks made a strong play for market share after Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland decided to quit the Republic.

Finance Ireland’s fixed-rate mortgages of 10-years-plus are known to have been its most popular products for customers this year, as mortgage switchers and home purchasers sought to lock in long-term rates as bond market investors bet on a series of rate rises by central banks. The European Central Bank (ECB) has hiked its main rates by 1.25 percentage points since late July and is widely seen hiking rates again on Thursday by 0.75 of a point in an effort to rein in soaring inflation.

“Given current volatility on interest rates internationally, we have decided to suspend our longer-dated fixed-rate products – for periods of 10 years or more,” said a spokesman for Finance Ireland. “We plan to reopen applications for such products in due course when more normal markets return.”

The company will continue to offer variable mortgages and fixed-rate mortgages for periods shorter than 10 years, he said.

Non-bank lenders are much more exposed to market rates than mainstream Irish banks, which largely fund their mortgages from the deposits, where most savers…