Bank slows pace of restructuring while digital strategy builds momentum
Yorkshire Bank owner Virgin Money “slowed the pace of restructuring” in recent months as it focused on improving its customer experience.
The financial services group “invested heavily in our customer experience, with over 300 additional temporary colleagues working to address the elevated level of inbound calls and outstanding complaints”.
It said call waiting times had reduced by around three-quarters and it intended to keep the higher staff numbers in its contact centres and branches “in the near term” to embed its improvement.
Virgin Money, which also operates Clydesdale Bank, said it is making “good progress” on its digital strategy, which it launched 18 months ago and is seen as key to the group’s future performance.
David Duffy, chief executive of Virgin Money, said: “There is still a significant amount to do during the second half of our three-year digital strategy, but I remain confident it is the right strategy despite the changing environment, and as we execute, this will increasingly translate into stronger financial performance.”
Pre-tax profits in the six months to March were down 25% to £236m, which the group attributed to a higher impairment charge and increased investment costs.
It said the higher rate environment and positive momentum from its digital strategy drove an improvement in income to £933m, up 10% compared to a year ago
Duffy added: “While the past six months have seen turbulence in the economy and in the financial system, we have continued to focus on our target areas, growing customer numbers and deposits thanks to our new and existing digital products. Further customer-centric product launches are coming in the second half of the year.”
“We have a strong capital position and we’ve significantly grown pre-provision profit, while continuing our prudent approach. As the UK economy stabilises in the months ahead, we have a high degree of confidence in our long-term plans.”
Virgin Money has also announced that non-executive director Darren Pope will be staying on the board. Pope had previously planned to step down because of a conflict of interest in a new role that he is not now taking up.
