Abbey shrugs off the gloom
Banking group Abbey National today shrugged off concerns about the economic slowdown after revealing profits were ‘‘comfortably’’ up on last year.
Updating the City in its autumn business statement, Abbey said revenues were strong and it was on target to meet its year-end cost objectives.
Retail banking was competing ‘‘aggressively’’, it continued, with net lending up nearly £2bn during the third quarter.
Chief executive Ian Harley said he was pleased with the group’s performance so far this year, adding: ‘‘Profit before tax is running comfortably ahead of last year’s levels, despite uncertain market conditions.’’
Mr Harley added he was confident the housing market would hold up.
He said: ‘‘We haven’t seen any particular sign of a downturn yet and October may be even more buoyant than September.
‘‘We would expect to see some softening in places, particularly in central London, but overall I think the market is in pretty good shape.
‘‘We’re pretty optimistic that this mortgage year will be the biggest ever.’’
Elsewhere, Abbey’s online bank cahoot gained 82,000 additional accounts during the third quarter.
It now has more than 250,000 and is ahead of its targets for the year.
Despite the generally upbeat statement, there was a note of caution.
Mr Harley said the wholesale bank, which gained a new head in Mark Pain earlier this month after the departure of his long-standing predecessor Gareth Jones, had reported a ‘‘strong’’ third quarter.
But he added that while the arm had seen ‘‘no significant deterioration’’ in credit quality since the half-year, ‘‘the full impact of the heightened volatility in US markets remains uncertain’’.
