Virgin Money Holdings has reported resilient demand following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, helping the bank to a 33 per cent rise in full-year underlying pretax profit.

Underlying pretax profit rose to £213.3 million (€250.5 million) for the year ended December 31st from £160.7 million. Gross mortgage lending rose 12 per cent to £8.4 billion (€9.9 billion) in the year, winning a 3.4 per cent share of the UK mortgage market.

However, the lender’s impairment charges rose to £37.6 million from £30.3 million, with most of the rise coming in its credit card business.

The bank said that was a reflection of a sharp rise in its credit card lending, which rose 55 per cent to £2.4 billion (€2.8 billion).