Nottingham Building Society lent more than £659 million to homeowners last year – 18 per cent up on 2021.
New figures show the mutual supported more families with their mortgages, but it warned the cost of living crisis and potential impact on mortgage affordability meant it expects mortgage defaults to rise. It said arrears on loans remained low, however.
The society’s underlying pre-tax profits were £18.9 million for the year, compared to £15.1 million the year before. Assets rose from £3.6 billion to £3.8 billion.
Chief executive Sue Hayes said she was pleased to have finished the calendar year in a strong position.
She said: “Our financial performance has been achieved despite additional costs and increased provisions for expected future credit losses driven by the rising cost of living, and inflationary challenges that our borrowers face into 2023 and beyond.
“Increasing interest rates have supported the strong performance.
“We have made it a key priority to support our members through these difficult times by paying savers the best rates we could whilst strengthening the society.
“Building the right team has also been very important. In 2022 we announced some significant hires to bolster our talented executive team.
“Alongside this, finding the right allies to support our ambitions was a focus. Our partnership with Generation Home, announced in November, is a great example of how we will think differently to help achieve our goals.
“I am proud of the results we are sharing today and would like to thank our members, and each one of our dedicated colleagues, for their continued trust in the society.
“We look ahead to the coming years with a renewed sense of focus, guided by a clear and impactful purpose, with mutuality as our bedrock.”
During the year the Nottingham gave £150,000 to its Samuel Fox Foundation, named after the founder of the building society, to help local communities. Meanwhile staff gave 841 hours of support to community projects and charities.
The year the society also made two cost of living payments in 2022 to help its workforce through the current inflationary times.
