The bank, which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank, reported £8.6bn lending in the third quarter of 2019, an increase of £400m on the same period last year.
After recording £14.3bn of lending in the first half of the year, this takes it to a £22.9bn total between January and September – also up five per cent on the same period in 2018.
This has pushed RBS’s share of the mortgage market up slightly to 12 per cent.
However, the lender has also been feeling the pinch of the competitive market, reporting another drop in net interest margin down to 1.97 per cent from 2.02 per cent in the second quarter of 2019.
This, the bank said, was “primarily reflecting the contraction of the yield curve and competitive pressures in the mortgage business as front book margins, while higher than Q2 2019, remain lower than back book margins.”
Overall, RBS reported an operating loss of £8m before tax for Q3, which included a further provision of £900m for payment protection insurance (PPI) redress.
This took its 2019 operating profit before tax to £2.7bn.
