Nottingham Building Society reports “strong” 2023 financial performance

Nottingham Building Society (The Nottingham) has reported “a positive financial performance” for the year ended 31 December 2023, achieving growth in mortgage lending in a challenging economic environment as it continues its transformation plan.

The Nottingham saw an increase in gross new lending (reaching £887m), total mortgage assets (reaching £3.6bn), and new mortgage customers (6,957), while its total savings balance also grew, as well as total interest paid to savers.

The firm’s CEO praised the results, despite a dip in profit, where profit before tax stood at £8.3m, representing a decrease of £10.6m on the prior year. Underlying profit before tax of £24.2m, however, represented a £9m increase.

Sue Hayes, CEO of The Nottingham, said: “I am pleased to report our financial results for 2023 alongside the progress towards delivering our strategy. Our financial performance in 2023 was strong, with profit before tax of £8.3m (2022: £18.9m), an underlying profit before tax of £24.2m (2022: £15.2m) and an 18.3% increase in mortgage balances compared with 2022.

“We achieved significant growth in mortgage lending while overall lending in the UK mortgage market fell. We helped 6,957 (2022: 3,984) customers either take out a mortgage with us for the first time or move to a new mortgage.

“We achieved good growth in our savings balances of 18.3%. We diversified our proposition to offer a variety of attractive products and savings rates to our customers via our branch network and online savings app.

“As interest rates have risen and remained high throughout this year, we have focused on paying savers the best rates we can whilst doing what we need to strengthen the Society. We paid a total of £91.8m in interest to savers in 2023 (2022: £23.9m). 

“I am proud of the results we are sharing today and would like to thank our members, and each one of our dedicated colleagues, for their continued trust in the Society. We look ahead to the coming years with a renewed sense of focus, guided by a clear and impactful purpose, with mutuality as our bedrock. 

“Looking to the future, we will continue to monitor the impact of movements in base rate on our mortgage and savings propositions, while focusing on innovation in our products as part of our ongoing transformation journey. We will also continue to support our saver members with attractive savings propositions.“