Interim profits at Virgin Money have fallen amid higher provisions for a potential increase in customer arrears, new results show.
The challenger bank - which has its main bases in Newcastle, Glasgow and Leeds - reported underlying pre-tax profit of £312m for the six months to the end of March, down from £371m in the same period last year.
Impairment losses on credit exposures - the money put aside for losses on bad loans - rocketed to £144m from £21m, a move that chief executive David Duffy said was down to the bank's updating of modelling that anticipates stresses in the economy, but not an actual reflection of what Virgin was experiencing across its customer base.
