Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society said on Thursday its 2018 pre-tax profit rose 16% to £192.5 million as its gross mortgage lending increased 10% to a record £8.9 billion .

The society opened 197,000 new accounts in 2018 and grew savings balances to £29.6 billion.

Net interest margin slipped to 1.11% from 1.23%.

Yorkshire’s assets have risen to £43.1 billion and it has more than three million customers.

The society said its liquid assets slipped to £5.5 billion from £6.1 billion and its liquidity ratio slipped to 13.9% from 15.3%, “ahead of regulatory liquidity requirements.”

Yorkshire said it completed three successful public bond issuances in the wholesale markets “as part of a continued strategy to diversify funding” including a €500 million Medium Term Note issue, a £300 million Residential Mortgage Backed Security issue and a £500 million five-year issue in the Covered Bond market.

Yorkshire CEO Mike Regnier said: “It’s very pleasing that in a competitive market, which has seen margins under pressure, we’ve delivered a sustainable level of profit whilst also improving value for members.

“But it’s even more pleasing to know we’ve supported millions of people to achieve the financial goals which enable their life goals.

“As a building society, our members are our customers and our shareholders.

“We’re here to provide them with the financial tools they need to achieve the things in life they want – whether that’s buying their first home, saving to build financial resilience, or using their money to help the next generation.

“All of the money we make is either used to help our members, through higher than average savings rates, more flexible products and improved services, or kept within the Society to make us financially stronger and more resilient.

“Our year-on-year reduction in operating costs, along with improvement in the management expense ratio, shows that we’re becoming more efficient and giving our members better value for money.”