Speaking to this publication, Martin Brown (pictured), head of home buying and ownership at Bank of Ireland UK, said the firm was “very pleased with our performance in 2025” and it was “ambitious to go forward”.
He noted that the £100m investment in the UK business last year “gives us a real platform to continue to become more efficient, to develop new propositions and to remain relevant for the market today but also going forward”.
“We are a lender with lots of strong heritage, and we are in a really good position, and really excited about how the market is expected to evolve, and we’re really keen to evolve with it, and continue to be there to support brokers and their customers’ needs,” Brown added.
He said the investment would be partially used to improve its branch network in Northern Ireland, and this would have ramifications for the mortgage business.
“In order for us to be successful as a mortgage business, we need to be successful in terms of our customer deposits and managing that franchise so that we’ve got an effective and efficient operating model across everything we do, and that applies to all bits of the business,” he said.
Brown noted that the business would “benefit” from a “more efficient cost of funds that will give us the ability to sustainably grow our mortgage business, which is what we’re seeking to do”.
“We are seeking to take modest growth, but with sustainable margins out of the UK mortgage business going forward,” he added.
He noted that there would be two key areas; one would be making the business more efficient – for instance, using artificial intelligence (AI) tools – and evolving its mortgage proposition.
Brown said that on the efficiency side, it was looking to invest in technology, specifically looking at using AI tools.
“Like many businesses our size, we’ve still got manual processes and legacy areas that we can be more efficient at. For instance, moving our customer base from a postal basis onto a digitalised platform, enabling us to better contact borrowers, also taking out costs and pain points, because that can be quite slow – phoning up to request a duplicate statement, for example – and improving the way that we do that.
“Digital self-service is both better from a customer outcome perspective, as it is faster and more efficient, but also more efficient and cost-effective for us,” he said.
Looking at the mortgage proposition, Brown said it was looking at how to develop into new areas.
“If we look at what the FCA are doing in terms of their review of the market, considering how advice is used, particularly triggers for lenders in terms of existing customer service, that… opens up the ability, I think, for us to think faster and further about how the market might evolve and we’re quite excited about that,” he noted.
Big achievements of 2025 are webchat and LTI pilot
Rhys Powell, national sales manager for Bank of Ireland UK, said one key achievement the firm made was launching a live chat, which had “landed really well” and “received good feedback”.
He said it allowed the firm to offer varied support, and customer service executives can serve three people with the live chat versus one on the phone.
The product transfer process is also more digital, so it can get an offer out within 30 minutes.
“We’re now consistently offering application to offer over a 10-day window. That puts us right up there when you’re looking at the market – we know how important service is for a broker to recommend a lender. You’ve got your product, proposition and criteria, but service is another key pillar that brokers are recommended based on,” he said.
Powell said it had run a successful pilot programme around its loan-to-income (LTI) limit to six times income. This was run alongside increasing loan limits in its bespoke range.
“We’ve had a lot of good feedback and it’s landed really well. We’ve essentially achieved the metrics that we wanted to achieve in order to get that pilot across the line, so that’s been agreed and approved towards the end of 2025 and will be going out shortly in the start of the year,” he said.
The changes came into effect earlier this month.
Powell added that Bank of Ireland had launched a buy-to-let (BTL) energy-efficiency product range and expanded the offering to cover properties with Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings from A to C, which not only assists more customers but also helps meet its sustainability targets.
He added that there was a “strong appetite” for three-year fixed rates in the prior year.
“It’s really targeted for those who are in that middle ground and are not sure as to whether a two- or five-year is the right product for them, and giving them another offering, what we’ve seen since we’ve launched it is that’s made up 12% of our business last year,” he said.
Another product launch included its large cashback offering, which helped support customers with the cost of living and was aimed at first-time buyers and homemovers.
BOI UK wants to work with brokers on retention
Brown said Bank of Ireland UK was a “broker-based business” and wanted to “work with brokers in terms of retention”, adding it was a “key part” of the business.
He said there were challenges with legacy back books, as there can be multiple parts of loans, like part and part or interest-only, and that can make it challenging to put on an automated or digitalised basis.
Brown said it was looking at how it can support “existing customer transactions” that will allow easier access and digitalisation.
This would improve the customer experience but also make it a “more efficient model to process”.
It is also looking at automating and digitalising further borrowing, and it was a key area it was looking to invest in.
Powell said it was here to support brokers, adding that is “not just about bringing one area – it’s service, it’s proposition, it’s the whole package that we’re looking to bring”.
He said it was looking to enhance these further in 2026 and it wanted to get the “message wider this year making it clear where we can help and what [we can] do to support you as a broker”.
BTL still a key area
On BTL, Brown said the area was “challenged” and it tended to lend in the amateur landlord sector.
“I think the higher interest rate environment makes affordability in that segment challenging, so as a result, there has been less business written in that segment, which I think has created some margin pressure for those loans.
“You’ve seen more resilience in the professional buy-to-let market as a result [of that margin pressure]. The rise of limited company buy to let is a key thing that we don’t currently have in our proposition so that would be an area that we’re also considering.
“We do absolutely see buy to let as a key area. We were formed out of the old Bristol and West Building Society, which was one of the first big lenders in buy to let, so it’s definitely part of our heritage. We’ve still a significant book of buy to let on our portfolio and we would see where we can find sustainable margins and where we think it’s the right proposition, we’d like to evolve that out.
“Worth saying, we have an active product range and offering in buy to let that we are actively promoting and selling at the moment,” he added.
