Pretax profits at Irish Nationwide Building Society grew by 64 per cent to €391 million last year, the company said today.
The company said its loan book stood at €12.3 billion at the end of 2007, an increase of 18 per cent on the previous year. Over the same period the shares and deposits in customer accounts grew by 10 per cent to €7.25 billion.
However, Irish Nationwide's gross lending fell from €4.96 billion to €4.3 billion, reflecting the slowdown in the housing market.
Michael Fingleton, Irish Nationwide CEO, said the combination of the credit crisis and a weakening economy would require that Irish Nationwide manage its affairs in a "prudent and conservative risk adverse manner".
He said Irish Nationwide had not invested in any of the sub-prime or related financial products.