Virgin Money has reported that mortgage balances increased in 2017 by 13% to £33.7 billion, from £29.7 billion in 2016.
Gross mortgage market share totalled 3.3% and net lending share was 8.9%.
Underlying profit before tax increased by 28% to £273.3 million.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted to report that our customer-focused strategy of growth, quality and returns continued to drive strong financial and operational performance in 2017. We generated market-beating growth across our core products as we continued to capture high-quality market share in mortgages and credit cards. We maintained our uncompromising focus on asset quality and we continued to improve our operating leverage.
“In doing so, we met or exceeded all of our financial targets for the year. Underlying profit before tax increased by 28% to £273.3 million and return on tangible equity improved to 14.0%. We continue to experience robust customer demand and stable customer behaviour in a resilient housing market, and we expect to maintain solid double-digit returns in 2018.
“We remain focused on providing our customers with good value, straightforward products and achieved a significant increase in overall customer advocacy in 2017. More customers than ever before would recommend Virgin Money to their friends and family, with our overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) increasing to +40, up from +29 in 2016. That continues to make Virgin Money one of the best-rated UK retail banks.
“We refreshed our strategy during the year to address and capture the strategic opportunities arising from the technological and regulatory changes shaping UK retail banking. Broadening our customer appeal through the development of our SME and digital bank propositions will provide access to a wider pool of UK retail banking revenues and further diversify our funding base.
“The strength of the business, our customer-focused strategy and our new strategic initiatives position us well to continue growing profitably while serving and growing our customer base.”
