Virgin Money UK PLC (LSE:VMUK) has already flagged it expects a much tougher second half of 2023 as margins come under pressure through greater competition in the mortgage market and savings markets.
By then, Virgin might be part of Nationwide after shareholders accepted a £2.8 billion takeover from the building society in May.
Since then, a potential spanner has been thrown into the works in the shape of a possible investigation from the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).
With a potential Labour government in four weeks that traditionally has been much more hostile to the City and looking potentially to raise the tax bar on the banking sector, all bets might be off again.
In the half year just ended, Virgin has already said mortgages were 2% lower at £56.6bn, reflecting a subdued market though applications have started to pick up.
Business lending was 7% higher at £9.3bn, driven by strong demand in sector specialisms while unsecured lending rose 3% in to £6.7bn, driven by 5% growth in credit card lending.
Customer deposits were 2% higher £68.2bn while credit quality was said to be "solid".
David Duffy, chief executive, said: "While we expect there to be headwinds through the second half of the year, we remain well placed to deliver growth in our target segments."
Nationwide’s offer consists of 218p cash plus a 2p dividend.