High street bank TSB has seen first-quarter profits nearly double thanks to cost-cutting and as mortgage lending surged amid a rush of house sales ahead of last month’s stamp duty deadline.
The lender – owned by Spanish bank Sabadell – posted pre-tax profits of £101.3 million for the first quarter, up from £53.4 million a year ago, as operating costs fell 4.7% on efforts to make savings and “further simplify the business”.
TSB cheered a leap in mortgage business as secured lending jumped 12% year on year to £1.5 billion in the three months to the end of March.
The group said that in March alone, it helped borrowers buy more than 3,000 new homes – a 36% rise year on year for that month.
Lenders have reported booming mortgage business at the start of the year as borrowers sought to complete on house purchases ahead of the stamp duty change from the beginning of April.
Lloyds Banking Group last week said its mortgage lending grew by £4.8 billion as it saw 19,000 completions in the first three months of the year, with March 27 its biggest-ever single day for completions.
TSB said it also saw strong demand for credit card lending and personal loans, up 5% and 13% respectively – its strongest quarter for loans since 2020.
“The UK consumer remains resilient in the face of sluggish economic growth and uncertainty about the global outlook,” it said.
But it flagged caution as trade tariffs weigh on the economic outlook.
“Key concerns relate to the impact of trade tariffs on growth and employment in the UK economy,” TSB said.
The group increased its charges for bad debts to £16.5 million for the first quarter, up from £15.4 million a year ago.
TSB’s owner Sabadell is in the middle of a drawn-out takeover battle after rival BBVA launched a hostile bid for the group.
BBVA is now waiting for approval from the Spanish government for the deal, which has faced fierce opposition from the Sabadell board.
Metro Bank also released an update on Thursday confirming it remained “profitable on both an underlying and statutory basis” at the start of 2025.
But total net loans fell 6% since the end of last year to £8.5 billion as of March 31 as it sold off its unsecured personal loan portfolio amid a switch towards corporate, commercial and small business lending, as well as specialist mortgages.
Daniel Frumkin, chief executive at Metro Bank, said the group remains “firmly on track to meet our guidance given at full year”.
