Record profits for challenger bank Aldermore
CHALLENGER bank Aldermore has announced record profits and continued strong lending growth.
The bank, which has offices in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, is a specialist lender to the SME and private landlord sectors.
In full year results for the year ended December 31, 2015, underlying pre-tax profit rose 75% to £99m, while net loans were up by 28% to £6.1bn. Customer numbers grew 27% to 71,000.
The bank, which is the third largest UK lender to SMEs under the Funding for Lending scheme, saw strong grow across all its various services.
Asset Finance rose 29%, with SME Commercial Mortgages up by 50%. Buy-to-Let loans grew by 18% and in an indication of the strength of the housing market, residential mortgages were up 42%.
Phillip Monks, CEO, said: “It has been an excellent year, both operationally and financially, for the group. We have delivered record levels of profitability with our (reported) profit before tax up by 88%.
“Today’s results clearly demonstrate our continued focus on delivery across a range of key metrics, with our net interest margin exactly as expected, continued improvement in our cost/income ratio and another strong credit performance.”
He said the bank remained committed to supporting SMEs, homeowners, landlords and savers who he claimed, were often under – or poorly – served by the wider market.
“We have a clear and differentiated growth strategy and remain both excited about the opportunity in our chosen markets and confident of our ability to deliver continued strong profitable growth and attractive, sustainable returns for shareholders,” he added.
