Yorkshire beats the gloom to lift lending

Published on 27/07/2012 00:00

YORKSHIRE Building Society has shrugged off the gloom pervading the quoted banking sector with an increase of nearly £10 million in interim profits.

Britain’s second-largest building society posted a pre-tax profit of £82.8m, up from £73.1m a year earlier. Core operating profit was 2 per cent higher at £92.4m.

Chris Pilling, chief executive, said he was “proud” to report an overall increase in net lending – a total of £523m in the first half of the year, taking its mortgage book to £27.5 billion.

Yorkshire has more than 3.5 million members, including about 180,000 served from 14 branches in Scotland. Its operations include the Egg mortgage and savings business and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, both of which were acquired in the second half of 2011.

It said 98.3 per cent of its mortgages were funded from savings balances, up from 97.4 per cent previously. Savings balances remained stable at £26.1bn.

Despite increasing regulation, Pilling said Yorkshire welcomed the opportunities ahead. “The government’s proposed Funding for Lending scheme looks very interesting and we are examining the detail to see if there is an opportunity for us,” he said.

Three branches opened in the period.