Gross lending increases by 71% at Yorkshire BS

30 July 2010 | By Samuel Dale

And Yorkshire reports pre-tax profits of £65.4m in the last six months.

The total mortgage balances amount to £23.3bn with liquidity at 24.2% and a tier 1 capital ratio of 11.8% and total solvency ratio of 15.2%.

Member savings balances stand at £22.7bn with 97% of mortgages are funded by savings balances.

Following its merger with Chelsea Building Society on April 1 Yorkshire has increased its assets by 37% to £31.1bn.

The amount of loans in arrears is 2.5% or more, including possessions, but arrears cases have fallen by over 7% in the last six months.

Iain Cornish, chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society says: “The actions we took during 2009 provided the Group with strong foundations which have seen the Society return to healthy profitability.

“Our unwavering focus on providing members with financial security and long-term value is demonstrated in the strength of our capital and liquidity positions and the competitive products and services we provide to our loyal members.  We are on target to almost double our lending in 2010 and have cautiously increased our activity in assisting first time buyers onto the property ladder. We have also continued to work hard to protect savers from the low interest rate environment.

“The integration with Chelsea Building Society is progressing extremely well and is ahead of plan.  I am confident of delivering the target savings by the end of 2011. This achievement is in no small way due to the hard work and professionalism of our staff across the Group and I thank them for this terrific effort.”