Skipton International has celebrated the completion of 500 buy-to-let mortgages for British expats.

The Channel island-registered bank launched expat mortgages in 2014 as a response to the difficulties British expat customers faced obtaining a mortgage on UK investment properties.

Jim Coupe, managing director of Skipton International, said: “”Demand for expat mortgages has been growing since we launched them two years ago. Despite having good credit ratings and good salaries or incomes in their country of residence, many British expats struggled to get a mortgage on UK buy-to-let investments because there were so few decent products available.

“”We aim to make the process of getting a buy-to-let mortgage as straightforward as possible, and put good customer service at the centre of our offering. We are able to give a decision in principal on the phone, while our streamlined process means expat remortgages may complete in as little as 16 working days.

““In addition, we offer an online mortgage calculator which allows British expats to see if they could fulfil the criteria for an offshore mortgage with us, saving everyone time.””

Earlier this year Skipton opened up its mortgages to self-employed applicants and expanding its eligible country list.