Nationwide customers’ £10bn nest egg
Households have topped up their savings accounts in record numbers during lockdown, adding more than £10 billion in deposits at the Nationwide Building Society.
Releasing its annual report, the high street mutual revealed deposits during the past year increased by a bumper £10.6bn, which compares with £5.7bn during the year before the pandemic struck.
The lender added that those who struggled financially during the pandemic were helped with 256,000 mortgage payment holidays and 105,000 payment breaks for loans and credit cards.
The details come as the group, which rescued the Dunfermline Building Society during the financial crisis, revealed pre-tax profits in the year to April 4 nearly doubled from £466 million to £823m due to a rise in income and cost-cutting measures.
Mortgages remained strong, with customers taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday, although stricter criteria at the bank saw overall mortgage lending down slightly from £30.9bn to £29.6bn.
During the year, the building society introduced 90 per cent loan-to-value mortgages and also brought in 95 per cent loan-to-value mortgages this month.
Cost-cutting helped with the profit boost, with bosses revealing administrative expenses fell by £94m to £2.2bn. This was in part due to lower running costs during the pandemic and comes as the lender said in future its 13,000 staff can work more flexibly.
“Remote working has been popular with colleagues and made us more productive,” the society noted. “The flexibility also helps us better serve our members.”