Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks deliver “sound” quarter
Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks are on track to deliver £10bn of new lending to business and mortgage customers by October, its owner said today.
Trading in the three months to the end of December was “sound and resilient” although “subdued demand for credit and low interest rates continue to restrict balance sheet and income growth”, it said in a statement.
The lengthening economic recovery has also affected customers’ ability to pay back loans, causing a slight decline in its ratio of impaired assets to total lending, National Australia Bank group said.
“Against a background of continued economic uncertainty, our UK business continues to demonstrate its resilience and our prudent strategic direction is unchanged,” said chief executive Lynne Peacock.
NAB warned that the outlook remained weak as public spending cuts and Eurozone uncertainty put a drag on the recovery.
In its first-quarter trading update, NAB said it made cash earnings of A$1.3 billion (£817m), an 18 per cent rise on the same period a year earlier.