One of UK’s major lenders, HSBC, has posted mortgage advancements for the first half of this year.  Compared with last year the 6.7 billion pounds lent is 35% higher.  Through two quarters of 2010, the bank had advanced only 4.92 billion pounds.  HSBC now holds an impressive 11% share of the UK mortgage market.  As little as four years ago HSBC was holding only 2.5% of the mortgage lending market.

Most UK mortgage loan firms still run a tight ship as far as lending criteria is concerned.  In other words, unless you can provide a sizeable deposit and have squeaky clean credit, obtaining a mortgage loan will be nothing but a pipe dream.  Unfortunately, that is the case with many prospective borrowers.  HSBC is currently an exception to the rule.  They are accepting 90% of all mortgage applications and first time buyers have obtained almost 30% of all HSBC mortgage lending within the past six months.

HSBC has not been unscathed by the financial crisis though.  It recently announced a major job slashing which will take place over the next three years.  They will be cutting 5,000 positions during the first half of 2012, which includes 700 in the UK retail banking division.

HSBC head of UK retail banking Joe Garner commented on the positive impact the bank had on the UK economy despite the challenging times, saying: “Despite the ongoing challenging UK economic conditions, in the first half of 2011 HSBC used its unique international strength to pump over £30bn into the British economy.  As well as lending record amounts to UK homeowners, we are also helping nearly 44,000 UK business customers trade internationally.”