TSB Bank plc on Thursday reported a statutory first-half profit before tax of £42.9 million compared to a pre-tax loss of £65.5 million in H1 of 2020 and a pre-tax profit of £21.1 million in H1 of 2019.

TSB, currently owned by Spain’s Banco Sabadell, said total customer lending increased by £2.2 billion or 6.6% to £35.5 billion in the first half — up £4.3 billion or 13.7% year-on-year — with growth driven by mortgages.

The bank said customer deposits at £35.5 billion increased by £1.2 billion or 3.4% in H1 of 2021 — up £2.6 billion or 8% year-on-year “primarily reflecting the market wide impact of Covid-19 on consumer spending.”

Net interest margin (NIM) was 2.44% compared to 2.49% in H1 2020 “with higher new business margins in mortgages offset by lower deposit margins and a reduction in the mix of unsecured lending.”

TSB said its strong growth in mortgages has been supported by video banking which now accounts for over 90% of mortgage appointments — compared to 75% face to face and 25% by telephone in 2019.

The bank hailed its “record mortgage performance with £5.8bn in applications … drawn down £4.8bn of completions … already over 80% of the full year lending in 2019.”

TSB said women now make up 40% of its senior roles, well above the sector average of 32%, and its has “stretching targets for diversity and inclusion.”

TSB chief executive Debbie Crosbie said: “These results show a significant improvement on last year and demonstrate the impact of our Money Confidence purpose in delivering for our customers.

“With a relentless focus on what our customers want and innovating to serve them better, we have grown our balance sheet and increased income, while reducing operating costs further.

“I want to thank everyone at TSB for their efforts in supporting our customers and communities, helping them feel more money confident and in driving TSB’s wider contribution in the first half of the year.”