IRISH Life Homeloans is to raise £100 million in securitised funds to finance the growing demand for mortgages on the Irish market.

The loan, which is secured against a section of its loan book, will allow the company to grow its customer base and its share of the Irish mortgage market, it said yesterday.

Under the terms of the new loan, Irish Life Homeloans will transfer £100 million of its mortgages to a specific investment vehicle which will hold the mortgages as security for loans given to investors.

Customers will, however, continue to make their monthly repayments to Irish Life Homeloans and the company will continue to be responsible for all aspects of the administration of all mortgages, including setting the rate of interest and issuing annual statements of account.

Irish Life Homeloans, a joint venture between Irish Intercontinental Bank and Irish Life, currently claims to account for 8 per cent of all new mortgages advanced annually in Ireland.

At the end of 1996, Irish Life Homeloan's mortgage book was valued at £550 million, with mortgage lending up by 50 per cent on the previous year.