NORTH-EAST bank Virgin Money has reported accelerating growth in its latest results.

The Newcastle-based lender, which last month postponed Stock Market flotation plans amid a volatile global economic picture, increased gross mortgage lending during the last quarter. Mortgage completions were 19 per cent up on the first half of the year, and its mortgage book increased by 3 per cent to £20.9bn at the end of the quarter. Retail deposit balances rose by 3 per cent to £21.8bn

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the bank's chief executive, said: "Following a very strong performance in the first half of the year, we have accelerated our growth in the third quarter of the year, while continuing to build a high quality balance sheet to deliver increasing returns to our shareholders.

“In mortgages and savings, we achieved strong growth during the quarter, particularly in terms of new mortgage applications where we took a market share of around 4.5 per cent. We also saw strong growth in our net interest margin and maintained a tight grip on costs despite investing in the build of our credit card and current account platforms.

“Looking to the future, we have a powerful brand, a strong balance sheet, a strong core business franchise and considerable opportunities to continue to extend our product range. The business has performed strongly in 2014 to-date and we are confident that we can continue to deliver progress against our strategy as we continue to grow the business.”