Santander UK profit jumps as bank continues to attract new customers

Santander UK reported a 6% jump in third-quarter pre-tax profit as the bank continued to gain new customers.

Pre-tax profit for the quarter came in at £496m from £466m in the same period last year. For the first nine months of the year, profit rose to £1.42bn from £1.01bn a year ago.

Chief executive officer Nathan Bostock said: “I am pleased to report solid results for the first nine months of the year, with good momentum in profitability underpinned by strong flows, significantly lower provisions and growth in net interest income.”

“We’ve seen further growth in our 1I2I3 World customers and were the first choice for customers switching their current account provider year-to-date.

Santander added 960,000 new customers to its 123 current accounts in the nine months ended 30 September.

The bank said net lending to UK companies in the first nine months of the year increased by £2.3bn to a total of £26.2bn, maintaining the positive momentum seen throughout 2015, while net mortgage lending improved to £2.2bn, with a retention rate of around 80%.

In addition, Santander said it was setting aside an additional £43m to cover investment advice compensation following its fine by the Financial Conduct Authority.

In March last year, the regulator fined Santander £12.4m for investment advice failings, in particular over its structured investments.

“The additional provisions were taken following the agreement of the revised approach to redressing portfolio and structured investment customers with the FCA,” it said.