BRADFORD-based Yorkshire Building Society has reported a pre-tax profit of £192.5 million in 2018, an increase of 16 per cent.
The mutual announced a strong performance for last year, growing profit and savings balances, while delivering record mortgage lending and reducing costs.
In a competitive market, the society was able to increase its pre-tax profit on the previous year, and improve its core operating profit by 13 per cent to £180.8m.
YBS also supported tens of thousands of people to buy a home, financing more than 36,000 mortgages, increasing gross lending by 10 per cent to a record £8.9 billion, and net lending by 60 per cent to £1.6bn.
It also helped members to save for the future, opening 197,000 new accounts and growing savings balances to £29.6bn.
The mutual paid savings account holders £100m in additional interest because its average savings rates were 0.37% higher than the market average.
Mike Regnier, Yorkshire Building Society Group’s chief executive, said: “It’s very pleasing that in a competitive market, which has seen margins under pressure, we’ve delivered a sustainable level of profit whilst also improving value for members.
“But it’s even more pleasing to know we’ve supported millions of people to achieve the financial goals which enable their life goals.
“As a building society, our members are our customers and our shareholders. We’re here to provide them with the financial tools they need to achieve the things in life they want – whether that’s buying their first home, saving to build financial resilience, or using their money to help the next generation.
“All of the money we make is either used to help our members, through higher than average savings rates, more flexible products and improved services, or kept within the Society to make us financially stronger and more resilient.
“Our year-on-year reduction in operating costs, along with improvement in the management expense ratio, shows that we’re becoming more efficient and giving our members better value for money.”
The society, along with members and colleagues, raised £254,000 for charity partner End Youth Homelessness, bringing the total raised to £547,000 over two years.
The YBS Group includes Yorkshire Building Society and its brands Chelsea Building Society and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, and its subsidiary companies including Accord Mortgages Limited.
