First Active, whose shares have performed abysmally since its flotation last year, has received another blow after the British ratings agency Fitch IBCA downgraded both First Active's long-term and short-term rating.

Fitch IBCA said that the ratings had been downgraded as a result of the lower interest margins following the entry of Bank of Scotland into the Irish residential mortgage market. "The fall in margins has affected all Irish mortgage lenders but especially those dependent on mortgage business," the ratings agency stated.

First Active is dependent on residential mortgages for the majority of its operating profit which is sourced roughly 70-30 from Ireland and the UK. First Active is due to announce a cost-cutting programme on November 30th.