ACC BANK has agreed a new £250 million loan with a syndicate of six banks. The funds will be used for lending in the bank's core areas of farming, small to medium sized companies and personal banking.

This is the single biggest tranche of funds raised in the market by ACC Bank and, for the first time, ACC Bank arranged the facility itself. The funding is over seven years with payments being made on equal basis over years two to seven.

The funding carries an interest rate of 0.125 of a percentage point over Dublin interbank offer rates and the six banks involved in the syndicate are Bank of Ireland, Citibank, Barclays Bank, Chase Manhattan, Ulster Bank Markets and Westdeutsche Landesbank (Ireland).