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Newcastle Building Society has maintained record profits against a backdrop of a volatile market for its members.

Operating profits remained at £31.4m in 2023 as net interest income increased to £86.4m and total assets were boosted from £5.3bn to £6.2bn. Announcing its results to the London Stock Exchange, the mutual said it had been a particularly difficult year for people in its communities who had to grapple with stubborn inflation and cost-of-living challenges.

Despite an "increasingly challenging external environment", the society said it had held on to record mortgage lending levels at £1.1bn as net core residential lending fell from £586m to £575m. It said extra support had been offered to those members worried about their mortgage repayments, and acknowledged the impact on those re-mortgaging from historically low rates. Arrears in its loan book were said to be below market average.

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Elsewhere, bosses pointed to average savings rates of 3.03% versus a market average of 2.46%, which it said equates to an additional £25m for its members. And outsourced savings management subsidiary, Newcastle Strategic Solutions Limited, recorded growth with with 1.5m savings accounts on its books and nearly £50bn in savings balances managed for other banks.

In June last year regulators approved the merger of Newcastle Building Society with its smaller counterpart, Manchester Building Society. Newcastle said it is now looking at trying to replicate its success in the North East, with conversations under way in the North West and the potential for Manchester Building Society-branded locations opening up in the region.

On home soil, chief executive Andrew Haigh told BusinessLive he expected the society to open new branches in 2024. He did not give specific locations but said the mutual was still very much committed to its long awaited Tynemouth branch which was first announced in 2021. A new Newcastle city centre branch, at Monument, is due to open in the second half of the year and is described as "something very different" for the lender.

Meanwhile a partnership with Citizens Advice Gateshead, in which members anywhere in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ can access practical and confidential help in combatting the cost-of-living challenges, is said to have led to people securing more than £500,000 in grants and benefits they did not otherwise know they were eligible for.

Mr Haigh said: "In a challenging period, shaped by wider economic uncertainty, I'm proud that, as a Society, we have remained true to our purpose of 'connecting our communities with a better financial future' while delivering another set of strong results in 2023. We have continued to focus on the strategic ambitions underpinning our purpose of achieving growth, investing in the group's infrastructure for the long term, and of course, delivering value for our members.

"2023 was a particularly difficult year for people in our communities coping with the impact of stubborn inflation driving up the cost of living. In our regions, those cost challenges are often felt more deeply, making our priorities as a mutual to support all our customers and colleagues wherever we can, whilst providing additional help to those in need, more relevant than ever."