Retirement mortgages help fuel record result as Edinburgh's Hampden & Co heads for maiden full-year profit

Hampden & Co, the Edinburgh-based private bank, has enjoyed a record first half after seeing a spike in demand for retirement mortgages.

The bank reported a 47 per cent hike in total income to £8.8 million, with deposits up 21 per cent to £731m and loans and advances up 14 per cent to £434m, compared with the year before.

The group benefited from strong demand for its range of deposit, lending and day-to-day banking services.

Demand for its specialist mortgages and loans such as residential, retirement, buy-to-let, guarantor, multi-property and, most recently, self-build mortgages was most marked in London and the south east of England, accounting for around two thirds of total lending in the six-month period, while lending in Scotland also remained strong.

Lending for retirement mortgages, which allow clients in retirement to raise funds against the value of their principal property, saw year-on-year growth of 80 per cent. The bank’s self-build mortgage product, launched around a year ago, finished the period at £3.6m.

In addition, the bank’s portfolio lending service, which lets clients of wealth managers borrow against their investment portfolios, grew 40 per cent year-on-year to £35m. Overall, lending introduced by advisers and intermediaries including mortgage brokers, wealth managers, solicitors and other professionals lifted 30 per cent to about £100m.

Hampden & Co was founded in 2010, opening for business in 2015 when it became the first new UK private bank launch in a quarter of a century. It also has offices in London.

To support the bank’s work with advisers, it appointed Hannah Berridge as head of professional partnerships in May this year. Her focus is to further build the group’s relationships with professional service firms and intermediaries.

Hampden & Co chief executive Graeme Hartop.

Chief executive Graeme Hartop said: “Our continued and consistent growth for the first half of 2022 is testament to our relationship-driven approach with clients and the professional advisers that serve them.

“With some private banks moving away from traditional service models, our results show that clients still want and value having access to a named banker and a tailored proposition.”

He added: “We continue to invest in growing the business and we are seeing the results of our long-term strategy in terms of client growth and reputation reflected in these very positive financials. Importantly, the bank is on track to report its first full-year profit in [financial year] 2022.”

Chairman Simon Miller said: “The successful results can be attributed to the commitment of supportive shareholders, a talented management team and dedicated employees who have built a highly rated, client-led bank.”

Earlier this month, Hampden & Co said it had hired Gill Sanders from Adam & Co as a director as the private bank goes “from strength to strength”.

Sanders, who joined as a banking director, spent more than 20 years with Adam & Co, most recently as associate director, private banking.

At Hampden & Co, she will provide clients with a “bespoke” banking service including deposits, borrowing and day-to-day banking. Sanders will report to the bank’s head of banking, Mark Prentice, and will work alongside the banking teams in Edinburgh and London.