Aldermore chief: unemployment a major worry for economy

ALDERMORE is setting aside £132 million to deal with Covid-19 fallout and departing CEO Philip Monks admits he is worried about looming unemployment across the UK.

The lender, formed in the teeth of the last financial crisis because Monks was “appalled” by the behaviour of the big banks, made a £49 million profit for the year to June.

The SME and mortgage lender has a healthy profit margin of 3.2%, better than most rivals.

Monks says the impairment charge is high but prudent. “I think we are just being conservative,” he said, “but the big question is unemployment. I have huge concern for the macro economic environment.”

Monks founded Aldermore 11 years ago and will retire next year. He has become a non-executive at Brewin Dolphin and insists he has no plans to launch another bank. Aldermore’s loan book is £12.4 billion.

Aldermore has arranged 45,000 repayment holidays during the virus crisis, but says most borrowers are now repaying as normal. The big banks are behaving better this time around, says Monks.” I think there were initial hiccups, but they have probably taken the opportunity to accelerate their investment in tech.”