Nationwide, it reported that 17% of pre-tax profits had increased to £361 million.
Lenders had a resilient performance in the first half of the fiscal year.
Chief Financial Director Chris Rhodes commented, “It’s fun to see the benefits of a conservative approach reach results over the course of six months.”
“Despite the increase in impairment costs associated with the pandemic and the current uncertain economic outlook, our margins remain stable, cost reductions, and profits remain stable compared to the same period last year.”
The housing market was suspended on the lockdown but has since been recovered, with mortgage approvals in September being 39% higher than before.
Joe Garner CEO said: “It is extremely difficult to predict what will happen in the economy, employment and housing markets in the near future as a result of the pandemic and Brexit.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty ahead, but we’re facing a national face from a national strength position. We have stable profits, stable income, strong balance sheets and strong capital positions.”
Looking forward to it, we are warning about many uncertainties nationwide.
Earlier this month, the group warned about possible slowdowns in the housing market.
“It’s likely that activity will be slower in the coming quarters, especially if the stamp duty holiday expires in March, as most analysts expect, will be slower in action in the coming quarters.”
