Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society said on Thursday its 2019 core operating profit rose to £184.6m from £180.8 million in 2018 but pre-tax profit slipped to £167.2 million from £192.5m.

The mutual said it now has assets of £44.3 billion and nearly three million customers and had over £1 billion of growth in both mortgages and savings in 2019.

Yorkshire Building Society Group CEO Mike Regnier said: “I’m pleased to report another good set of results.

“Not only have we increased our financial strength, to support the long-term sustainability of the Society, but we’ve also made excellent progress against our strategic plan.

“The increase in customer satisfaction comes as a result of a lot of hard work by all of our colleagues, supported by investment in improving our services and launching new products specifically designed to help our customers.

“As a mutual, keeping costs down is a key focus for us.

“Using members’ money wisely and ensuring that we are focused on our core mortgage and savings business enables us to deliver against our purpose of providing real help with real lives.

“We estimate that we helped more than 49,000 people into a home through financing over 33,000 residential and buy-to-let mortgages, lending to housing associations and through our work with charity partner End Youth Homelessness (EYH).

“We also helped more than 84,000 people to increase their financial wellbeing through saving, financial education and employability support.

“We’re proud of the difference we are making to people’s lives by supporting them with the financial ambitions which enable them to achieve their life goals.”