Ireland’s PTSB may absorb initial ECB rate hikes – CEO

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A worker wearing a protective face mask mops a Permanent TSB bank ATM, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Dublin, Ireland, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s Permanent TSB may choose to absorb the first two rounds of European Central Bank interest rate hikes and not increase its own mortgage pricing in order to win business in the mortgage market, its chief executive said on Friday.

“I think it’s fair to say that Irish banks given their liquid position and given where they are can withstand for a portion of time some of those interest rate increases,” Eamonn Crowley told reporters after the company’s AGM.

“You could imagine the first couple of moves being okay, it depends on the pace and the size and the scale… No decisions have been made, no strategies have been adopted but we want to maintain our competitive position, that’s the key message.”