Nationwide urges lending caution amid 'slowdown'
The boss of Nationwide has warned banks and building societies will have to "balance carefully" the way they lend to squeezed households as a possible economic slowdown looms.Chief executive Joe Garner said that while consumers were becoming more worried about the UK outlook - which has turned gloomier as Brexit approaches - most did not see the fall-out from the EU referendum affecting their access to borrowing.But he said it was important for lenders to weigh the supply of loans carefully against affordability to support demand from consumers "in a responsible way" through a slowdown.Mr Garner made the comments as Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, reported a 20% fall in pre-tax profits to £322m for the quarter to the end of June, partly due to one-off gains made in the same...
