Nationwide profits rise 26%

Nationwide's underlying profit for the six months to 30 September 2010 was £147m compared to £117m for the same period of 2009. The boost in profits was driven by a 44% drop in impaired loans to £179m compared to £317m for the same period last year, after Nationwide tightened its lending criteria. Nationwide held onto its share of the mortgage industry during the first half of 2010, with gross residential lending of £6bn, giving it 8.5% market share, up from 8.3% for H1 last year. Its gross lending broke down into £4.7bn of prime lending and £1.3bn of specialist lending, made up al...