West Bromwich has made a pre-tax profit of £6m for the six months to the end of September, compared with a loss of £7.6m in the same period in 2013.
The building society said it had seen a significant increase in residential mortgage lending and has continued to deliver against its strategic objectives.
It achieved over £300m of gross residential lending in the six months to 30 September 2014, which surpasses the £214m reported for the full year to 31 March 2014.
Elsewhere, the leverage ratio is at 7.5 per cent, unchanged from the March year end, which the society said shows that it “remains one of the strongest amongst UK banks and building societies”.
Jonathan Westhoff, chief executive of the West Bromwich, said: “These results represent a significant year on year improvement in our performance and it is pleasing to have maintained a profitable position since our last year end.
“The West Brom continues to deliver against its strategic objectives, having achieved £300m in completed mortgage business after just six months.
“We have broadened our mortgage product range to offer options at a variety of deposit levels and introduced incentives such as cash-back, free valuations and free legal services, which have resulted in us featuring consistently in the ‘best buy’ rankings.”
He added that the timing of an increase in Bank base rate remains a topic of “considerable speculation”, given uncertainty over the long-term health of the UK economy and the threats posed by financial instability in Europe and beyond.
Mr Westhoff said: “The society has taken the necessary action to enable it to operate profitably in the current protracted low interest-rate environment.
“Nevertheless, the widely anticipated interest rate increases will be welcomed in terms of the positive impact on both margins and returns for savers, who have seen their rates fall significantly over the past year.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
