Metro Bank’s half year profits quadrupled year-on-year, eight years after the challenger bank first opened its doors.
Metro Bank’s H1 trading update, which was released today (25 July), showed an underlying profit before tax of £24.1m in the six-month period to June, which marks a four-fold increase from the £6m posted in the first half of last year.
The bank also reported lending growth of £2.4bn to reach a total of £12bn, up 55 per cent year-on-year and leading to a loan to deposit ratio of 87 per cent.
The bank said it had continued to see strong deposit growth of £2.1bn and now holds a total of £13.7bn, up 40 per cent year-on-year.
Net deposit growth per store per month stood at £6.2m in H1 2018, which represents an annualised deposit growth per store of £74m.
The bank said this meant it was already within its 2020 and 2023 target range.
Vernon Hill, chairman and founder at Metro Bank, said: "From a standing start of literally zero, we have won over 1.4 million customer accounts from the big banks, proving British consumers and businesses are turning their backs on poor customer experience and demanding more.
"Our blend of service, convenience and award-winning technology is not just attracting new customers in London and the South, it is helping to make us famous across the UK."
The bank reported an 201,000 increase in customer accounts in the six months from 31 December 2017, to 1,418,000.
This comes as it opened a new store in Watford in June as well as Southampton in July - growing the network to 57. It said it is now on track to open 12 new locations in 2018.
Craig Donaldson, chief executive officer at Metro Bank, said: "Almost eight years to the day we opened the doors to our first store and I’m delighted with the momentum demonstrated by the performance in the first half of 2018.
"We have delivered a 55 per cent growth in lending and 40 per cent growth in deposits year-on-year, and welcomed a record 201,000 new customer accounts.
"Every day, every month and every quarter Metro Bank continues to win customers and grow through our disruptive service-led model."
aamina.zafar@ft.com
