IFG, the financial services group, is moving increasingly into mortgage broking, with business so far this year almost matching the full-year total in 1998, the company's chief executive, Mr Richard Hayes, said yesterday.

Speaking after the company's annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday, Mr Hayes said the group arranged £117 million (#148.55 million) of mortgages last year, compared to £58 million in 1997. So far this year, the group has arranged about £100 million-worth of mortgages in its mortgage broking division.

This division has increased through the 25 per cent stake IFG has taken in Pro-Active Mortgages, a joint venture with Irish Life Homeloans, and the 50 per cent interest it has taken in First American Title, a vehicle for lenders and brokers to speed up the process of re-mortgaging.

Re-mortgaging was becoming an important aspect of IFG's activities, Mr Hayes said. Still at a relatively embryonic stage in the Irish market, re-mortgaging business is currently believed to be worth between £400 million and £600 million. Mr Hayes defined re-mortgaging as a process which enables people with a property that has a high asset value to bring that asset to liquidity.

He said recurring income, which comes from insurance renewals, trustee fees and annual actuarial fees, would be worth about £4.5 million this year, compared to £3.6 million in 1998.

IFG's international financial services division is now the worldwide leader for the provision of timeshare trustee services.