The company behind Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management has paid back £13.2bn in government loan repayments.
In its six-month results up to 30 September, Bingley-based UK Asset Resolution said that of the £13.2bn repayments, £11bn was from its Financial Services Compensation Scheme debt. The company said that 76% of its government loans have now been repaid.
As part of the plan to repay the FSCS loan, UK Assest Resolution completed the sale of two separate B&B asset portfolios to Prudential and funds managed by Blackstone and launched a further asset sales process that, subject to market conditions and value for money, is expected to repay the loan in full.
Underlying pre- tax profit reduced by 41% to £238m. Mortgage accounts three or more months in arrears, including possessions, reduced by 9% since March 2017 bringing the total reduction to 89% since formation.
Ian Hares, chief executive, said: “In the first half we finalised a major sale of assets and, subsequently, we have launched the next stage of the asset sales programme designed to repay the remaining FSCS debt. These are major steps towards realising our objective of reducing the Balance Sheet while continuing to maximise value for the taxpayer. It is pleasing that we continue to see high levels of service delivered for our customers.”
It was in April that £11bn of the FSCS loan was repaid using the proceeds received from the sale of two separate B&B asset portfolios to Prudential and funds managed by Blackstone. In October, a further asset sales process was launched will enable the repayment of the remaining £4.7bn of the FSCS loan. The transaction is expected to complete during the first half of the 2018/19 financial year.
Since formation in October 2010, the UKAR Balance Sheet has reduced by £94.7bn, including £40.9bn of customer loan repayments and £27.2bn of asset sales, which have facilitated the repayment of £57.5bn of wholesale funding and £36.8bn of government funding.
As at 30 September, lending balances stood at £18.2bn (FY 2016/17: £19.5bn).
Statutory profit reduced to £216.8m from £480.4m reflecting the declining mortgage book, £43.5m additional provisions for PPI claims and the prior year benefiting from a £51.0m profit on sale of loans and an insurance recovery of £50.0m in relation to remediation losses incurred by NRAM in 2012.
The number of mortgage accounts three or more months in arrears, including those in possession, reduced by 9% from 4,617 at March 2017 to 4,196 at 30 September 2017. The total value of arrears owed by customers has fallen by £2.5m from March 2017 to £35.2m, a reduction of 6.6%. This reduction is a direct consequence of proactive arrears management coupled with the continued low interest rate environment.
In total, UKAR has 139,000 customers (FY 2016/17: 148,000), with 149,000 mortgage accounts (FY 2016/17: 158,000) and 32,000 unsecured personal loan accounts (FY 2016/17: 35,000).
The company said that the majority of these loans continued to perform well with more than 93% of mortgage customers up to date with their monthly payments. In addition, UKAR continues to provide oversight of the 98,000 accounts (56,000 customers) sold to Prudential and Blackstone as part of an interim servicing arrangement.
Source: The Business Desk