Mortgage applications up 31% at Co-op

Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) has recorded a 31% rise in applications for its mortgages in the first half of 2010.

The ‘super-mutual’, which took over the UK’s second-biggest building society, Britannia, in 2008, lent a total of £1.1bn to mortgage borrowers in the six months to June.

During that time it increased the total savings held on its books by £1.4bn.

CFS, which includes internet bank smile.co.uk, also announced that its operating profits grew by a third to £109.3m over the period. Profits are up from £81.4m from the first half of 2009.

The bank reports that the majority of the mortgages it now holds are mainstream or ‘prime’ (as opposed to more risky ‘sub-prime’ borrowing), with a wide geographic spread and loan-to-value ratios falling as customers pay down their loans.