A surge in mortgage borrowing helped Lloyds Banking Group return a statutory pre-tax profit of £2bn in the third quarter of the year.

The banking group, which includes Lloyds and Halifax, published its third quarter report today, which showed profit before tax of £5.9bn for the nine months to the end of September and underlying profit of £6.3bn.

Both figures are up significantly on the first nine months of 2020.

Lloyds’ posted an open mortgage book figure of £292.6bn for the three months to 30  September 2021, up from the £289.9bn to 30 June 2021 and substantially up from the £270.6bn posted in the third quarter of 2020.

Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Charlie Nunn, who took on the role in August, says of the results: “Building on the strengths of the group and its achievements in recent years, there are clearly significant opportunities for Lloyds Banking Group to further develop its platforms and capabilities and grow through disciplined investment, empowering colleagues, enhancing collaboration and increasing agility across the Group.

“This can be built on the foundation strengths of customer service, distribution, and cost management. As we move into the final quarter of 2021, the board, group executive committee and I are developing the next evolution of our strategy and longer-term priorities.”