The lender reported higher volumes of new lending for all three brands, which continue to operate separately, which it attributed to “buoyant market conditions” ahead of the stamp duty holiday deadline.
CYBG, the parent company of Clydesdale, acquired Virgin Money in October 2018 in a £1.7bn takeover, with Virgin Money emerging as the lead intermediary mortgage lending brand.
Virgin is optimistic about the UK economic outlook, citing stronger GDP growth, lower unemployment, robust housing market and increased consumer confidence as positive indicators of an improving outlook.
It added that whilst the number of Covid-19 cases was increasing, especially those with new variants, and the impending rollback of government schemes were concerning the “strengthening backdrop” gave it “greater optimism about the pace of recovery”.
Virgin Money’s chief executive officer David Duffy said: “While COVID continues to impact the near-term, we have a strong capital position and robust provisions. We see great opportunities from further developing our digital capabilities to deliver an improved customer experience and greater efficiencies. We are well placed to grow profitably next year as we play our role to support the UK economic recovery.”
The bank said it was continuing its digital strategy to improve customer experience and drive efficiency in the business. It reiterated that it would do this by increasing customer’s adoption of digital technology, improving flexibility of employee working arrangements and further automation.
In the third quarter the lender launched its first greener mortgage product, which is said it would “develop further” in the coming months.
Virgin Money said that it had made continued progress in reducing its cost base in the third quarter, and that it expected underlying operating expense of less that £890m for the full-year and £430m for the half year.
Virgin Money launched its 95 per cent mortgage guarantee scheme product in May and was one of the original lenders to sign up to the scheme outlined in the Budget.
