Metro Bank : More customers withdraw money from Metro Bank, profits dive

(Reuters) - Metro Bank, which reported a sharp drop in half year profits, said on Wednesday more customers had deserted the troubled British lender after a major accounting error earlier this year.

Customers withdrew 2 billion pounds of deposits over the six months to June after the January loan book mistake hammered the lender's shares and left a hole in its balance sheet, forcing it into an early capital raise.

Metro, whose founder Vernon Hill is being replaced as chairman, said half year pre-tax profits fell to 3.4 million pounds from 20.8 million a year earlier.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru, Editing by Kirstin Ridley)