A statement from the chief executive, Paul Lynam, in its interim management report revealed the West Midlands-based bank had been waiting to see the outcome of George Osborne’s first Tory Budget. He said they were now ‘factoring’ the announcement of the tax relief change on buy-to-let mortgages into its assessment of the market.
The bank has hired a team to carry out a detailed study to find out if it can build a viable proposition in the mortgage market alongside some of the other challenger banks
“The performance and continued growth of our consumer finance portfolios and the strong traction achieved by the new SME division is encouraging,” said Lynam. “To support our future ambitions we are exploring the potential to broaden our deposit products by entering the cash ISA market and are considering the merits of possible entry into the UK mortgage market.
“We believe we have continued to position the bank to capitalise on the significant opportunities available to it, in a controlled and prudent manner, and we look forward to the future with confidence.”