Abbey grows mortgage market share

Abbey said profits were "significantly ahead" of the same period last year

Banking group Abbey is expected to overtake Halifax to become the largest provider of new mortgages in the UK.

Abbey said its share of the new home loan market was more than 25% in the first six months of the year. Halifax reveals its figures next week.

The bank also unveiled a 16% rise in total mortgage lending, but said it had done so by making lower-risk loans.

Abbey is owned by Spanish bank Banco Santander, which agreed to buy Alliance & Leicester earlier this month.

'Prudent' strategy

Abbey said its share of the mortgage market had risen to 25.6% in the first half of the year from 6.6%, but said it had expanded its mortgage business in a low-risk way.

"Our profitable lending growth has been balanced with a prudent risk approach targeting lower loan-to-value (LTV) business and continued reduction of our unsecured portfolio," said Abbey chief executive Antonio Horta-Osario.

Abbey's owner Banco Santander said its UK business had made a profit of 627m euros ($985m; £496m) in the first six months of the year, a rise of 4.4% compared with the same period a year earlier.

Overall, the group made a pre-tax profit of 6.1bn euros in the first half of the year, up from 4.1bn euros in the first six months of 2007.