First Active has increased its share of the mortgage markets to 15 per cent, according to an internal company memo.

The memo seen by The Irish Times states that First Active now has a 15 per cent share of new loans, according to Department of the Environment figures for the three months ending April 30th. This compares with a 12.3 per cent share for the year ended December 31st.

In the memo, sent by group managing director Mr John Smyth to staff, the growth in branch lending has been impressive, with the results of the customer focus programme and investment in sales management and the sales process now paying off.

The brokers services division also delivered significant business growth, according to Mr Smyth.

It is unclear which institutions are likely to have seen a fall in market share, although it is possible that other lenders reliant on the broker markets such as ICS will have fallen back slightly.

It is not clear what market share First Active is aiming at but this jump is likely to have brought them close to the target.

According to the memo First Active's share prices has been hit by the general re-rating downwards of all financial stocks. "However, the markets will always reward performance," he noted. Mr Smyth also insisted that the loan book is of the highest quality. He pointed to First Active's continuing securitisation programme as evidence that lending criteria and lending practice result in high quality loans.