Nationwide resilient against credit crunch

NATIONWIDE, the UK's second largest mortgage provider, has
posted record results in spite of the credit crunch.

The building society, which merged with Portman Building Society
earlier this year, reported a pre-tax profit, excluding merger and
disposal costs of £47m, of £394.4m for the six months to
September 30 – up 29% on the same period last year.

The total number of product sales was up 19% on the last year.
Sales excluding mortgage and savings products were up 8%.

Following Nationwide's merger with Portman, total assets are up
21% to £166bn compared to £137.4bn in April.

The building society said that the proportion of mortgage accounts
three months of more in arrears is 0.31% for prime mortgage
business and 0.35% across the group – less than a third of the
industry average of 1.06%.

Graham Beale, Nationwide's chief executive said the strength of
its mutual franchise combined with its prudent approach gave the
building society a strong sustainable business model.

“This has been an exceptional and challenging six months, a
period in which we merged with Portman and the industry has seen
unprecedented market conditions arising from the credit
crunch,” he said.

“We have one of the strongest and safest balance sheets of any
financial organisation in the UK. The quality of our commercial
lending and treasury portfolios is also excellent. We have no
direct exposure to US sub-prime lending resulting in an overall
balance sheet of the highest quality.”