The growth in lending was attributed to “significant investment in mortgage transformation” which led the lender to streamline its service and scale its operating model.
The lender restructured its teams last year following a strategic review, combining its intermediary relationship and decision-making teams into one. It launched a service pledge earlier this year that promised brokers a refund of the admin fee if they had anything other than excellent service.
Its statutory profit before tax came to £1.4m for 2022, which is down from £2.7m profit in 2021. This was attributed to “continued loan growth, widening net interest margins and tight cost control”.
The company added that its core operating profit came to £11.6m in 2022, an increase from £4.5m in 2021.
Customers with balances at or above three months in arrears stayed stable at around 1.3 per cent, compared to 1.2 per cent in the prior year.
The company said it adopted a pre-arrears strategy to proactively make early contact with customers when “early signs of payment stress” appear.
The weighted average loan to value (LTV) of its mortgage book was relatively flat at around 61 per cent, compared to 65 per cent LTV last year.
The company added that it had recorded an impairment credit of £500,000 for the year, which compared to a £700,000 impairment charge in 2021.
It reported a £1.7bn mortgage book which was funded with £900m of warehouse funding and over £200m of equity from its shareholder Pinebrook.
Vida Homeloans added that its Tower Bridge securitisation platform continued to attract a “broad range of tier one investors” and had issued £3.3bn of securitisation since its launch.
The firm confirmed that it had completed its eighth residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) transaction in 2022 raising £400m, which was followed by a further £350m in January 2023.
Vida confirmed it had applied to become a bank was “in train” and that the ability to accept retail deposits would be a “key enabler of its business strategy” as it provided “diversified and relaibe funding that will enable the business to compete more effectively with less potential risk of market interruption”.
The lender said in the seven years since it was founded, it had lent over £3.3bn and served more than £10,400 customer accounts.
Anth Mooney (pictured), Vida Homeloans’ chief executive, said: “The prevailing economic environment creates an uncertain operating environment, with cost of living increases and rising interest rates potentially impacting demand, affordability and ultimately potentially leading to an increase in customer arrears.
“As a management team, we have a proven track record for reacting swiftly and decisively to meet the challenges posed by an ever changing environment and the close contact we maintain with our customers, will allow us to identify those customers who are most in need.”
He added: “We enter 2023 in a confident position, with committed funding capacity in place, a high quality loan book, a strong capital base, cautious provisioning and a well-established distribution franchise – we are well placed to execute on our plans for the year ahead.”
“As a team, we remain fully committed to creating the leading challenger brand in the UK specialist mortgage market, so that we can help many more people find a place to call home.”
