This represents an uplift in gross mortgage lending on 2015, when the bank lent £18.8bn across its owner-occupied and buy-to-let ranges, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ 2015 round up. The bank would not confirm its total lending figures for 2016.
The bank’s latest mortgage lending update highlights a recovery in lending levels, compared to the 7% drop which occurred between 2014 and 2015. The decline in lending caused the bank’s mortgage market share to drop from 10% to 8.6% in 2015.
In Lloyds’ group results published yesterday, the banking giant reported a fall in gross mortgage lending to £38bn last year from £39bn in 2015.
Staley said the Barclays’ 2016 gross lending represented close to 90,000 homeloans, of which more than 18,000 were advanced to first-time buyers.
The bank’s mortgage book grew 1% year-on-year from £127.7bn to £129bn. Buy-to-let lending as a portion of its total loan book remained the same as 2015, at 9%.
Talking about the focus for the bank in 2017, Staley said its aim was to close all non-core activities. Barclays set up the non core business unit to separate assets and business which no longer fit within its strategy for the future of the bank. This includes all European retail business, parts of the corporate bank in Europe and the Middle East; and parts of the investment bank.
In his result’s presentation, Staley took the opportunity to address the growing role of technology in the banking sector.
He said: “A modern bank today, to a certain extent, is a technology company with a balance sheet and with regulators.” He added: “We need to use technology and the management of data to become a competitive advantage whether it’s for Barclays UK or Barclays International.”
Turning to the bank’s redress for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), the bank set aside a further £1bn to deal with complaints arising from the mis-selling of the product. This compares to £2.7bn in 2015.
