First-quarter profits more than double at UK’s Nationwide Building Society

Nationwide Building Society, Britain’s biggest customer-owned lender, more than doubled its first-quarter profit, helped by improvements to its balance sheet, it said yesterday. 

Nationwide is Britain’s third-largest mortgage lender and second-biggest provider of saving products.

It also said it expected house prices to continue to moderate over the medium term, after showing strong growth earlier in the year and prompting fears of a bubble.