Yorkshire Building Society says a record number of savings accounts were opened with it last year, as it releases its annual financial results today.
A total of 693,000 savings accounts were opened in 2023 (2022: 537,000) and savings balances from members increased to £47.1bn (2022: £42bn).
Also, the building society provided 44,000 new residential mortgages (2022: 47,000) and mortgage balances increased to £46.8bn (2022: £45.2bn), despite a market which has seen mortgage lending drop by almost 30%.
Strong trading performance in both savings and mortgages, combined with the rising interest rate environment, supported an increase in core operating profit to £449.9m (2022: £425.6m). Statutory profit before tax for the year was £450.3m (£502.5m in 2022).
Susan Allen, chief executive, said: “More people are choosing us for their savings and, despite the mortgage market being much smaller in 2023, we increased our market share and one in three of our new owner-occupied mortgages was to a first-time buyer.
“As a mutual, we don’t have external shareholders so we can return more to our members.
“During 2023, the rates we offered were on average 1.01 percentage points higher than the market average, which equates to £441.1m additional interest paid to our savers – more than double the amount when compared to 2022.
“The Society remains committed to maintaining a branch presence. Many of our members value the personal touch they receive in a branch, especially when they require support in more complex situations.
“The Society is in a robust financial position and we’re continuing to increase our customer satisfaction scores.”