Virgin Money sees cash rise in accounts
VIRGIN MONEY customers have increased the amount of cash in their bank accounts by around 5 per cent as people have been unable to spend money eating out or shopping in the usual way because of the pandemic.
The company said there is now £67.7bn in customer accounts, mainly due to lower spending, but also due to businesses ensuring that they have enough cash to keep going.
It is a 4.8 per cent rise for the third quarter, Virgin said. The bank has seen the value of its mortgage portfolio drop by 1 per cent to £58.9bn.
Meanwhile, businesses borrowed a lot more – up by 5.7 per cent to £8.8bn – as they tapped into the Government’s support schemes.
Virgin Money has lent £619m in Bounce Back Loans and £248m in Coronavirus
Business
(CBILS).
Personal lending was down, by 2.7 per cent to £5.2bn as people shopped less on their credit cards.
The results are “constructive”, said Jefferies analysts Joseph Dickerson and Aqil Taiyeb, as Virgin kicked off the bank reporting season.
Other banks – including NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds – are due to report later this week.
Virgin said that more than half of the 67,000 mortgage customers who had taken a payment holiday during the pandemic are now making repayments again.
Chief executive David Duffy said: “We know that things may yet get more difficult for many of our customers, but we are determined to continue to support their needs where we can.”
Interruption
Loans