© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo at a branch of Virgin Money bank is seen in London, Britain, March 6, 2013. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
(Reuters) -British challenger bank Virgin Money (LON:) UK retained its annual profit margin forecast on Tuesday and said it had seen improvement in the mortgage market activity, with application volumes closer to pre-pandemic levels last month.
Balances in mortgage, its biggest business, dropped about 0.7% in the first quarter ended Dec. 31 to 57.11 billion pounds ($71.68 billion).
However, the company said it had seen early signs that market activity had improved and were increasing back to 2019 levels, amid a fall in mortgage rates.
“There are early signs in January that market activity has improved, including market applications volumes more in line with 2019 levels within both residential lending and more recently buy-to-let,” Virgin Money said in a statement.
“Looking ahead, the group expects customer sentiment in mortgages to continue to improve, given the emergence of more positive trends at lower customer rates.”
The company also stuck by its full-year net interest margin (NIM) forecast of 1.90%-1.95%.
($1 = 0.7967 pounds)
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