The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has reported growth of 7% in consumer finance new business in September, compared with the same month last year.

In the third quarter of 2016, new business was also up by 7% compared with the same quarter in 2015.

New business in the second charge mortgage market grew 4% by value and fell 1% by volume over the same period.

Credit card and personal loan new business together grew by 8% compared with September 2015, while growth in retail store and online credit new business was flat.

Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “Consumer confidence has been relatively robust in recent months, which is reflected by the consumer finance market’s solid performance in the third quarter.

“New business growth of 10% in the first nine months of 2016 was slightly ahead of the FLA’s single-digit growth expectations for 2016 as a whole.”