British mortgage bank Abbey National, the subject of a bid tussle, has reported an 11% rise in profits for 2000 as it diversified further away from the UK's competitive mortgage and savings market.
Abbey National is fighting a £19bn sterling takeover bid from bigger rival Lloyds TSB, at the same time as it is trying to merge with Bank of Scotland.
The bank's pre-tax profit rose to £1.975bn, compared with £1.783bn. Net mortgage lending increased to £3.2bn, representing an 8% share of the market.
Abbey said more than half of its profits had come from businesses other than mortgages and savings, including wholesale banking, where profits were up 37%, and life assurance, which produced a 29% profit increase.
Retail banking, facing pressure from fierce competition in an overcrowded financial services market, increased profits 5%.
