According to the lender’s trading update, the growth builds on an upward trajectory in gross mortgage lending, from £5.8bn in 2014 to £7.5bn last year, boosting its position in the lender ranks from ninth to eighth place.
Primarily a residential lender, 82% of Virgin Money’s mortgage book comprised of residential loans at the end of September, compared with 12% of buy-to-let business.
Despite upheaval to taxation and regulation in the buy-to-let market, Virgin said it remained “well positioned to serve non-portfolio buy-to-let landlords” and expects its share of these mortgages to remain consistent with the share of buy-to-let mortgages in total UK mortgage stock.
Mortgage balances at Virgin now stand at £28.9bn, up 14% from £25.5bn at the end of 2015.
Virgin’s CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia, said: “I am delighted with the continued strong performance of the business in the third quarter of 2016.
“We delivered a record start to the year for mortgages and we have maintained that momentum following the outcome of the EU referendum.”
However, Gadhia added: “We have been encouraged by the relative strength of the UK economy immediately following the EU referendum result although we continue to look forward with caution. We are well placed to manage potential economic headwinds and remain confident of achieving a solid double-digit return on tangible equity for 2017.”
Virgin Money has also announced its partnership with 10x Future Technologies, just a day after former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins announced the firm’s launch accompanied by a scathing attack on the state of the big four banks’ technology systems.
The firm will help Virgin to build its digital banking platform which will encompass; banking process automation, compliance reporting and security and analytics.
