Coventry Building Society sees pre-tax profit rise 49%
COVENTRY Building Society, the UK’s third largest building society, has announced a pre-tax profit increase of 49% to £88.5m.
The society said that for the year ended December 31, 2012, mortgage assets increased by £2.8bn to £22bn and new mortgage lending increased by 29% to £5.1bn.
Net mortgage lending was £2.3bn, equivalent to 31% of all net mortgage lending in the UK. Savings balances increased by £1.1bn to £20.1bn.
The society has maintained a strong ‘A’ credit ratings throughout the credit crunch and the core tier 1 ratio of 23.2% is the highest reported by any top 10 building society or mutual lender.
David Stewart, Chief Executive, said: “I am pleased to report that in 2012, Coventry Building Society once again delivered both a robust financial performance and genuinely member-focused service.
“We continued to grow our mortgage assets whilst retaining the quality of lending that protects individual members and the society alike. We helped homeowners and, most importantly, we have done the right thing for our savers.”
He said the society had reported the highest average rate to savers of all large building societies since 2007 and while it did not yet have comparative figures for 2012, its average savings rate rose during the year to 2.83%.
“We increased the average rates we paid on ISAs and, from April 6, will take what we believe to be a unique step of raising easy access variable ISA rates further to 2.50% AER. Every one of our quarter of a million ISA customers will be paid at least this best buy rate. Whilst no guarantee can be made of long-term rates, as a mutual organisation owned by its savers and borrowers, we believe this is the right thing to do and we are pleased to be able to take a lead in supporting savers in this difficult environment,” he added.
“This is made possible by not only our financial strength, built on years of consistent and sustainable performance, but also by our focus on our members and balancing the needs of savers and borrowers.
“I believe the society remains well positioned to continue to support members in what will be a challenging economic environment.”
In outlook, he said the climate remained challenging and it was cautuous over what might lie ahead.
“Although aspects of the UK and global economy show signs of recovery, these are uncertain and fragile. For our members the actions taken to stimulate recovery are having an increasing impact and I am concerned that savers will continue to bear an unfair share of this particular burden,” he added.
“As a mutual organisation, we are required to do what we can to address these issues and balance the needs of savers and borrowers. We have done this because our focus on putting members first drives us to do the right things, but this is only made possible by our financial strength, built on prudence and efficiency. I continue to believe we have a sustainable business model, and one which will help us to do the best we can for our members.”
