When the lender revealed its profits had jumped by a third last year, Virgin Money (LON:VM) revealed potential plans to buy assets from the troubled Co-operative Bank (OTCMKTS:COOPQ).
Britain’s Co-op bank is seeking a buyer after being rescued from the brink of collapse in 2013 and struggling to meet regulatory capital requirements.
The bank, which has over four million customers was put up for sale in February 2017 after the rise in concerns over its capital position.
“The bank has not approached anybody in Co-Op Bank yet,… but at some point we will look at this strategic opportunity,” said the Virgin Money Chief Executive, Jayne-Anne Gadhia.
She added that Virgin Money remains “confident in our plans for organic growth and our philosophy regarding acquisitions is unchanged. We consider potential opportunities that are a good fit with the business, value accretive and within our prudent risk appetite,”
She did not specify whether the bank are planning to buy the whole business or seek to cherry pick certain assets from Co-Op Bank.
Virgin Money has seen a huge growth in profits last year. The underlying pretax profit rose to 213.3 million pounds in 2016, up from 160.7 million pounds the bank made in 2015.
The gross mortgage lending increased by 12 percent to 8.4 billion pounds in 2016, giving the bank a 3.4 percent share of a UK mortgage market dominated by larger players.
The lender revealed it had an increase of over 35,000 customers per month, which was mainly through its digital channels. Over 82 percent of its sales in 2016 were through digital channels.
Speaking about Brexit, Virgin Money has said that whilst the nature of Britain’s exit from the EU remains unclear, the bank remains nimble and able to adjust to changes.
TSB’s (LON:TSB) Spanish owner Sabadell is also said to be interested in buying Co-op Bank, but has given no more information.