The Dublin-based financial service firm has relationships with more than 120 mortgage intermediaries through Mortgage Broker Solutions, a joint venture with GE Money.

IFG plans to use the same model to forge relations with insurance brokers, who remain the main providers of lucrative investment and pensions products to wealthy individuals, despite intense competition from the banks.

"We plan to do for private clients what we've done in the mortgage business, " said deputy chief executive Mark Bourke. "It's all to play for."

The group is already a strong player in pensions and investments through IFG Financial Services.

Bourke said it would leverage this expertise to provide support for smaller independent brokers in areas such as product development, technology and compliance.

"We've already got a strong group pensions and individual advisory business but it only exists within these walls, " he said. "The obvious next step is to franchise this expertise in the same way as we've done on the mortgage side."

Bourke said banks are interested only in selling products, leaving an untapped market for brokers equipped to provide a more comprehensive service. "The market is still very underdeveloped in terms of looking at clients' asset allocation and risk profile, " he said.

However, it could take several years to get the broker network up and running. "We'll do it incrementally, " said Bourke. "We have the skills inhouse and, over the next couple of years, we will roll out a full franchise model."

Through the joint venture with GE Money, IFG is a significant player in the mortgage market, funnelling business from individual brokers to the ten lenders who underwrite the loans. Volumes grew to 1.4bn in 2005 from 1bn the previous year.