Mortgage markets stabilising, reckon OneSavings Bank, as CFO departs

Shares in OSB are trading over 40 per cent lower in the year-to-date.
Shares in OSB are trading over 40 per cent lower in the year-to-date.

FTSE 250 OneSavings Bank (OSB) Group announced that its chief financial officer will be stepping down after more than 11 years at the bank.

April Talintyre, who has been at OSB since 2012, will remain in her role until the bank appoints her successor. Both internal and external candidates will be considered, the lender said.

Following its results, OSB’s share price soared more than nine per cent at the open.

“It was not an easy decision to retire from OSB after working with a fantastic group of people for so long. However, I know I am leaving the Group in a strong position and in safe hands,” Talintyre said.

Andy Golding said: “April has been instrumental in shaping and delivering OSB’s strategy over the last 11 years, helping steward OSB through Private Equity ownership into a successful FTSE 250 listed business, as well as playing a key role in the Group’s merger with Charter Court Financial Services in 2019.”

The announcement came as the lender — which specialises in subsections of the mortgage market like Buy-to-Let — confirmed its outlook for the remainder of the year.

It said it remained on track to deliver a net interest margin of around 2.6 per cent and net loan book growth of around nine per cent, up from previous guidance of seven per cent.

It confirmed that its arrears balances remained “broadly stable” at 1.3 per cent, up from 1.2 per cent at the end of the last quarter.

The bank has faced a difficult 12 months so far after it said earlier in the year that it would take a hit of up to £180m from a “step change” in customer behaviour.

Due to higher rates, customers in certain sections of the loan book have been choosing to refinance mortgages earlier than expected, meaning they spent less time on the more expensive ‘reversion rate’.

In the first half of the year, its profit fell 71 per cent due to the impact of the changing behaviour.

Its shares are down over 40 per cent in the year-to-date, although OSB confirmed there had been “no material change in behavioural trends in the period”.

OneSavings Bank also confirmed it had completed its first £300m senior debt issuance as it attempts to meet its MREL requirement by July 2024.

MREL, the Minimum Requirement for own funds and Eligible Liabilities, is a kind of capital which aims to absorb losses and potentially supports recapitalisation if an institution is on the point of failing.