Metro Bank gains customers and branches but posts a loss
METRO Bank made another loss in the first half of the year, the high street lender said yesterday, in part because of the ongoing costs of its expansion.
The three-year-old bank has deposits of £870m, an increase of more than 50 per cent since the start of this year.
And lending has more than doubled in the same period, hitting £366m.
It has 19 branches currently and plans to open another five through the rest of 2013.
However, those investments are hitting the bottom line – the lender is still not profitable, recording an operating loss of £19.4m in the six-month period.
Chief executive Craig Donaldson said he expects the growth to continue for the rest of the year.
“Given the strong start we’ve had in 2013, we’re on track to have a record breaking second half of the year,” he said.