Challenger Handelsbanken joins boom in mortgage loans
BRITISH profits at Handelsbanken soared in 2013, the Swedish lender said yesterday, driven by strong increases in business and mortgage lending.
Overall lending in the UK increased 17 per cent on the year to £12.26bn.
Mortgage lending jumped 29 per cent to £3.58bn, while business lending increased 13 per cent to £8.68bn.
As a result operating profits in Britain increased 13.6 per cent from SEK1bn (£94m) to SEK1.14bn.
Over the year Handelsbanken opened another 28 branches across the UK, 10 of which were opened in the final quarter.
The new openings take its total network in Britain to 161 branches.
The whole international group reported operating profits of SEK18.1bn, up 5.8 per cent compared with 2012’s performance.