Aldermore lending hits £1bn

Mark Stephens, deputy chief executive and group managing director of Aldermore’s mortgage division, said: “This is a fantastic result at a time when the general economy and the housing market have both been in the doldrums.

"Aldermore has been able to buck the trend and has consistently increased its lending volumes whilst other lenders have been cutting back and tightening critera. Our strategy of being the champion of homeowners and SMEs is clearly very effective."

Stephens said the lending had focused on providing mortgage finance to creditworthy borrowers frustrated by intransigent high street lenders.

"Our strategy of assessing cases based on their own merits, rather than relying on automated credit scoring, has paid dividends and the quality of our loan book is excellent," he added.

“We’ve invested heavily in skilled staff, market-leading technology and, most importantly, building productive working relationships with our introducer base and those investments are all now proving successful.

"We have ambitious plans for both our residential, commercial property lending and development finance businesses and will be making further announcements about new products and services over the coming weeks.”