HSBC has surpassed Barclays as the fifth largest lender in the UK following its latest financial results.
Over 2020, HSBC completed £24bn of new mortgage lending, a 14% rise on 2019, which equated to a £3bn increase in monitory terms.
This is in contrast to the overall mortgage market, which reduced by 10%, equating to £241bn over 2020.
HSBC reduces 90% LTV rates
By the end of last year, HSBC had a 10.3% market share, up from 8.1% in 2019.
In addition, the bank noted that 60% of its lending was completed by advisers and its new originations had a 70% LTV on average.
The lenders mortgage book also rose in 2020, from £108.1bn to £110.7bn, year-on-year.
Breaking down its mortgage types, the bank has £19.4bn worth of interest-only mortgages, £3.3bn on its standard variable rate and a buy-to-let book of £2.8bn.
Looking to the Q4 2020, HSBC noted that 0.19% of mortgages were 90 days overdue, down from 0.23% in June.
Furthermore, despite the increase in new lending, the bank’s profit after tax was down 30% to £5.37bn.
Profit before tax was also down, having dropped 34% to £6.45bn in 2020.
As a result, the lender is reducing its office space by 40%, however, intends to keep its HQ.
Noel Quinn, group chief executive of HSBC, said: “The pandemic inevitably affected our 2020 financial performance.
“The shutdown of much of the global economy in the first half of the year caused a large rise in expected credit losses, and cuts in central bank interest rates reduced revenue in rate-sensitive business lines.
“We responded by accelerating the transformation of the group, further reducing our operating costs and moving our focus from interest rate sensitive business lines towards fee-generating businesses.
“Our expected credit losses stabilised in the second half of the year in line with the changed economic outlook, but the revenue environment remained muted.”