Virgin Money has seen mortgage completions up 19 per cent during the third quarter, compared to the average of the first two quarters, with the overall mortgage book increased by 3 per cent to £20.9bn at the end of September.
The company’s third quarter trading update also revealed that it took 4.5 per cent market share of new mortgage applications in the quarter, with the statement adding that mortgage asset quality remained strong.
According to Virgin Money, effective management of mortgage and deposit pricing helped to increase the company’s underlying net interest.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive at the bank, said: “Following a very strong performance in the first half of the year, we have accelerated our growth in the third quarter of the year, while continuing to build a high quality balance sheet to deliver increasing returns to our shareholders.
“In mortgages and savings, we achieved strong growth during the quarter, particularly in terms of new mortgage applications where we took a market share of around 4.5 per cent.
“We also saw strong growth in our net interest margin and maintained a tight grip on costs despite investing in the build of our credit card and current account platforms.
“Looking to the future, we have a powerful brand, a strong balance sheet, a strong core business franchise and considerable opportunities to continue to extend our product range.
“The business has performed strongly in 2014 to-date and we are confident that we can continue to deliver progress against our strategy as we continue to grow the business.”
The statement also noted the appointment of Richard Hemsley as chief banking officer, taking responsibility over profit and loss for all business lines - with the exception of credit cards - and for distribution. He will join, subject to regulatory approval, in 2015.
peter.walker@ft.com
