The mortgage insurer said that whilst the big banks are using drawdowns from the scheme to satisfy capital adequacy requirements they are passing on little of that as funding to borrowers.
The latest FLS update from the Bank of England revealed that mutuals have only drawn down £5m under the scheme but lent £37m in the second half of 2012 with £23m of this in the last quarter alone.
Simon Crone, vice-president commercial, mortgage insurance Europe at Genworth, said: “It is all very well the larger lenders using funds from the scheme to satisfy capital adequacy requirements, but the intention of the initiative was to help first-time buyers and small business owners that had been hitherto frozen out of the market.
“Building societies realise this and the importance of new borrowers to the overall health of the mortgage market.”
Andrew Lewis, chief executive at Monmouthshire Building Society, said:“We are immensely proud that not only have we managed to maintain our lending to first-time buyers against a tough economic backdrop, but that we have done so at a time when many other lenders seem reluctant to help the next generation of homeowners.
“The funds drawn down from the FL S have assisted us in doing this, but it is incorporating mortgage insurance into our prudent lending approach that has been the real enabler."
