Bank hits profit, two years after gaining its banking licence
Manchester-based DF Capital Bank, the specialist commercial lending and personal savings bank, has achieved its first full year of profitability, two years after receiving its banking licence.
In the year ending December 31, 2022, the bank, which provides working capital solutions to dealer and manufacturers, also achieved record new loan origination, exceeding the £1bn milestone for the first time, and loan book growth of 76% year-on-year.
Net income during the year was £20.431m, up from £11.303m, while a pre-ax profit of £1.304m was an improvement on last year’s pre-tax loss of £3.735m.
The bank’s commercial lending products are provided either in partnership with manufacturers on a programme basis to offer to their dealer network, or through direct relationships with dealers.
During 2022, the bank increased the number of manufacturer and distributor partners to 90 (2021:79) and increased the number of active dealer facilities to almost 1,000 (2021: 805).
Throughout the year, the bank maintained a highly diversified mix of asset lending, achieving double-digit percentage growth in all of the sectors it operates in, namely motorhome and caravan, lodges and holiday homes, specialist/prestige cars, motorcycles/all-terrain vehicles, marine, agriculture, industrial and transport.
Chief executive, Carl D’Ammassa, said: “I’m immensely proud of the whole team for delivering on our ambition to achieve full year profitability, especially given the many global economic and supply chain challenges.
“Reaching this milestone only two years after receiving our banking licence is remarkable and gives us the solid foundation on which to now scale the bank to deliver further profitable growth.”
He added: “Scaling the bank by growing our lending remains our priority. Routes to further growth will come from increasing facility utilisation with our active dealers, bringing on board new dealers, targeting additional manufacturer partnerships and entering new sectors.”
In February 2023 the bank was also recognised as one of the UK’s ‘Best Companies’ to work for. It was named in three league tables, achieved a two-star accreditation for demonstrating outstanding levels of workplace engagement and now ranks 14th in the UK’s top 75 mid-sized companies to work for, 15th in the North West’s top 50 companies to work for, and fifth in the Financial Services’ top 25 best companies to work for.
