Nationwide mortgage lending jumps by 44pc
Nationwide, Britain’s biggest customer-owned financial services group, reported a 44 per cent increase in loans to home buyers in its last fiscal year, including a sharp rise in the number of mortgages provided to first-time home buyers.
Gross residential mortgage lending rose to £18.4bn in the year to 4 April, up from £12.8bn the year before. The increase compared to a five per cent rise in the overall mortgage market in Britain.
Nationwide provided loans to 24,000 first-time buyers, up 9 per cent on the year before.
“The key strategic delivery in the last year has focused on growth across all of our principal product lines…demonstrating our commitment to supporting growth in the economy as well as meeting the needs of borrowers, especially first time buyers,” chief executive Graham Beale said in a statement on Wednesday.
Beale said Nationwide, which specialises in mortgages and savings, provided a “real and viable alternative” to the established banks.
Nationwide competes with Britain’s “Big Four” banks – Lloyd, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays – in the UK financial services sector.
Nationwide posted an underlying profit of £304m, up 10 per cent on the previous year. It took a £103m provision charge in respect of insurance mis-selling claims.