Irish farmers are set to benefit from the Bank of Ireland's push to gain increased market share in the agricultural sector, creating further opportunities for lending to help purchase livestock, buildings and equipment.
It has already created a new €1bn fund for lending to the agricultural sector and will bolster its team by adding another fifteen managers. The Bank of Ireland is one of the country's leading financers of land purchases in addition to financing livestock and farming equipment. It is growing rapidly thanks to the removal of milk quotas and improved export prospects.
The head of agriculture at Bank of Ireland business banking, Sean Farrell, was upbeat about the sector's growth possibilities: "Our lending figures to the agri sector in the first half of this year attest to the continuing increase in demand for credit from this very important sector of the economy.[...]Our loan approvals for the first half of 2014 have increased by 16% when compared with the same period last year and our approval rate is almost at 90%."