DARLINGTON Building Society's profits rose by 19 per cent last year, boosted by the crisis surrounding beleaguered bank Northern Rock.

The mutual, which releases its results today, said new lending was ten per cent higher than 2006 - at £158m - and total assets had increased by 14 per cent, to £689m.

It also saw a three-fold increase in the opening of savings accounts in the last four months of the year, as an influx of former Northern Rock customers looked for a safe haven to bank their deposits.

Pre-tax profit was up by 19 per cent to £2.2m and total mortgage balances increased by 11 per cent to £538m.

A statement from the society said: "At a time when the financial markets are still dealing with the effects of last year's credit crunch' and a major regional employer's future is in doubt, the region's only local building society, Darlington Building Society, has provided some much-needed good news in announcing strong results for the year ended December 31."

Peter Rowley, chief executive of the society, said: "These excellent results show that building societies are not the same as banks.

"Whereas the latter have encountered severe difficulties raising funds, retaining quality assets and writing off huge sums, we have shown that, by focusing upon core markets, sticking to what we know and do well, we can thrive where others falter."

He said the society's gross lending last year was more than twice the increase in mortgage lending nationally, and was funded predominantly by existing and new members.

As a result of the Northern Rock crisis, during the final four months of the year, Darlington Building Society, which employs 150 people, received more than three times its usual intake of deposits from savers.

Mr Rowley added: "These results demonstrate that while the outlook for this year is uncertain, our savings and borrowing members can benefit from the advantages that we offer as a strong and highly liquid mutual financial firm dedicated to looking after local interests of the individuals and communities that we serve."

Despite the warning of uncertain times to come, he said the society's good performance last year had continued into this year, and this year was already stronger than last.

"Our inflow of members' deposits, the completion of new mortgages and the pipeline of applications are all higher than the comparable stage twelve months previously," he said.

"We are looking forward to maintaining our progress and producing another strong performance during the coming year."

Darlington Building Society was named one of the UK's top ten most competitive lenders last year by research from online mortgage company mform.co.uk It came in fifth place nationally, followed by Yorkshire Building Society in sixth.