By Noor Zainab Hussain
(Reuters) - Challenger bank Aldermore (LON:ALD) Group Plc reported a 45 percent jump in first-half underlying pretax profit, as it shrugged off Brexit jitters and concerns about the impact of the Bank of England's recent rate cut.
Aldermore said it would pass the full reduction from BoE's interest rate cut onto both its lending and deposit customers.
The impact of the BoE's first interest rate cut since 2009 and a further potential cut will not materially impact its net interest income, the lender said.
Aldermore, one of the banks aiming to challenge Britain's "Big 5" lenders, said it had not yet seen a direct impact on its business from Brexit.
The bank kept its net interest margin stable at 3.6 percent and reduced its underlying cost to income ratio to 45 percent from 53 percent. Loans origination rose 26 percent to 1.5 billion pounds.
On the BoE's Term Funding Scheme, which will provide four-year funding for banks at interest rates close to the Bank Rate, Aldermore said it would review the details once they become available.
BREXIT IMPACT
Aldermore, which lends to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), homeowners and landlords, said it had extended the mortgages emergence period assumptions by three months to reflect increased economic uncertainty.
The bank will continue to work with UK SMEs, which, it believed, remained "under or poorly served".
Aldermore's commitment comes at a time when rival Virgin Money (LON:VM) deferred plans to begin lending to SMEs and Shawbrook said post Brexit uncertainty could lead to deferred investment decisions and a decline in borrowing demand.
"It would be foolhardy for me to comment on Virgin's reasons, but I'm very comfortable as a specialist lender as opposed to a retail bank, that we've got the capabilities and the opportunities to continue growing in the SME sector," Chief Executive Phillip Monks told Reuters.
Monks said the bank stress tests its books every month and there were no "signs of external loss" coming through.
"We stress test our customers' affordability to pay at much, much higher interest rates, which clearly is not an environment we seem to be facing for a good period of time now," he said.
Aldermore shares fell 5.9 percent to 144.6 pence at 0911 GMT on the subdued London Stock Exchange.