15th Oct 2015 06:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - Virgin Money Holdings (UK) PLC on Thursday said it is on track to realise its targeted returns after seeing mortgage and credit card growth, net interest margins, and return on tangible equity all perform in line with expectations in the first nine months of 2015.
The bank is targeting a net interest margin - a key driver of profitability - slightly ahead of 160 basis points at the full-year, and a mid-teens return on tangible equity by the end of 2017, having absorbed a new 8% bank surcharge introduced by the UK government.
Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said the strength of Virgin Money's mortgage business was particularly pleasing, with gross mortgage lending up by 38% to GBP5.5 billion and net lending up by almost double to GBP2.6 billion when compared against the first nine months of 2014.
Gadhia also said there was success with Virgin Money's new range of credit cards, which feature images of 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols.
"The demand for our new range of credit cards has exceeded expectations in the quarter as customers have responded to the quality and breadth of our proposition," the chief executive said. "As a result we remain confident that we can grow our credit card business to our target of GBP3 billion of balances by the end of 2018."
Virgin Money said that overall profitability has improved as a result of the "continuing benefits from growth towards scale".
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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