Coventry Building Society sees profits rise
Coventry Building Society has seen a rise in profits, thanks in part to increased mortgage lending.
The UK's third largest building society has reported pre-tax half-year profits of £45m compared to £43.5m in 2010.
It has a stable A3 score by credit rating agency Moody's and has net mortgage lending of £846m, equivalent to 25% of the market as a whole.
Coventry's chief executive said the results demonstrated his society's strength in uncertain economic times.
In an interim financial report, the chief executive David Stewart, said: "We have been able to maintain a consistent level of lending at modest loan to value ratios and to low-risk borrowers.
"The increase in margins available for new mortgages means that our ability to continue to lend has helped support profitability."
The building society's average loan-to-value ratio is about 50%.
Mr Stewart said he was confident the Coventry would not be significantly affected by the Eurozone crisis as the bank took steps in 2008 to limit the amount deposited in Irish banks to £8.5m and has no exposure to Italian, Greek, Portuguese or Spanish banks.