£5m of savings anticipated by specialist lender

Specialist lender the Secure Trust Bank (STB) is anticipating savings of £5m by the end of 2024, following its cost optimisation programme.

The expected annualised savings to be delivered from Project Fusion has been increased by £1m, thanks to a positive momentum.

The Solihull firm reported in a trading update that its loan book has grown by 14% in comparison to Q3 last year as well as seeing strong growth in this quarter of 16.4%, as leads were converted to new facilities by its commercial finance team.

Following a record Q2 2023, consumer finance recorded reduced new business lending volumes in the quarter as spending by consumers softened.

David McCreadie, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The Group has continued to grow in the third quarter and demonstrated the diversity of its business model with Business Finance contributing its highest quarterly new business volumes in over a year. Our positive momentum continues, given our strength in specialist markets and we remain on track to achieve our medium term targets, including our plan to deliver £4m in annualised cost savings this year rising to £5m in 2024.

“The continuing fall in inflation is welcome. We may have seen the high point of interest rates as a result, although the current rate environment has resulted in demand softening more recently. The impacts of the recent high inflationary environment may not have materialised fully yet and so we continue to monitor our markets and customer portfolios closely. We will continue to support our customers and trading partners as required”.