Yahoo Finance Metro Bank posts first ever annual profit
Metro Bank has posted its first ever annual profit, helped by record lending to both commercial and residential mortgage customers.
The challenger bank on Wednesday said that underlying profit before tax for the full-year 2017 had come in at £20.8m up from a loss of £11.7m in 2016.
It also chalked up record deposit growth of £3.7bn, marking a 47 per cent increase year-on-year, and record lending growth of £3.8bn, which represented a 64 per cent rise on the previous year’s figure.
“2017 has been a fantastic year for Metro Bank,” said chief executive Craig Donaldson. “We’ve reported our first full year of profitability, had continued exceptional growth in both deposits and lending, and have the privilege now of looking after over one million customer accounts,” he said.
He said that, especially when it comes to supporting small and medium-sized businesses – “the backbone of the British economy” – Metro Bank represents “real competition to the big incumbents”.
Metro Bank has been publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2016 and has enjoyed impressive growth since then. On Wednesday it said that it expects to open 12 new branches in 2018, across cities including Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham, creating 900 jobs.
