The lender said it has maintained its focus on providing mortgage finance to creditworthy borrowers frustrated by “intransigent high street lenders.”
Mark Stephens, deputy chief executive and group managing director of Aldermore’s mortgage division, said: “Our strategy of assessing cases based on their own merits, rather than relying on automated credit scoring, has paid dividends and the quality of our loan book is excellent.”
Stephens added: “We’ve invested heavily in skilled staff, market-leading technology and, most importantly, building productive working relationships with our introducer base. Those investments are all now proving successful.”
Charles Haresnape, chief executive of residential mortgages at Aldermore added that it hopes to do £500m of residential business this year, up from the estimated £380m it did in 2011.
“We have sufficient capital and liquidity to be able to grow the business further. We are looking to grow significantly over the next few months and increase our business levels. We are in a different place from other lenders because we can see where our funding will come from, whereas some of the bigger lenders are choosing to contract their lending appetites.”
Aldermore’s plans for an extended version of its first-time buyer 100% LTV guarantor mortgage is also expected to hit the market soon.
The bank is considering allowing guarantors to place a lump sum of money in a savings account with the bank, that it accepts in lieu of a deposit.
Haresnape said the extended guarantor mortgage is “due in the summer”.
The lender is also evaluating whether it will join the NewBuy Scheme alongside Nationwide, NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander.
“There are now opportunities for other lenders to join the scheme and we hope by Q3 we will be in a position that would enable us to join it too.”
