Yorkshire Building Society Group has reported a core operating profit of £152m and record profit before tax of £199.3m for 2013.

Gross lending reached a record £6.8bn, up 48%, and net lending more than trebled to £2bn.

Chris Pilling, Yorkshire Building Society Group’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted to present an outstanding set of financial results for the Group and am very proud of our achievements in 2013.

“It is 150 years since the building society from which the Yorkshire traces its roots was established and our financial performance and prudent approach in 2013 demonstrates we are still delivering on the promise of giving customers a trustworthy alternative to the banks.

“We lent £6.8bn in 2013 and helped thousands of home buyers and remortgage customers by offering more best-buy mortgages than any other provider4. That included our lowest ever fixed rate mortgage and support for first time buyers by launching the biggest range5 of 5% deposit mortgages available in the UK.

“As well as providing competitive mortgages, we also worked hard to offer our members a range of strong savings accounts at a time when interest rates remain at a historic low. We have sought to reward the loyalty of our members during necessary rate reductions, as well as protecting rates on regular saver and children’s accounts.

“We have seen encouraging levels of interest in our face-to-face financial advice service which is available to all at a time when many other financial providers have introduced harsh minimum investment limits or withdrawn services completely.”