SHAWBROOK GROUP PLC (Reuters) - British bank Shawbrook Group Plc (>> Shawbrook Group PLC) said its full-year underlying pre-tax profit rose 63 percent, driven by growing demand for loans from small businesses.
The lender, which was founded in 2011 and went public last year, said underlying pre-tax profit rose to 80.1 million pounds for the year ended Dec. 31, from 49.1 million pounds in the previous year.
The bank's loan book grew 44 percent to 3.36 billion pounds.
Shawbrook said net interest margin rose to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent in 2014, helped by reduction in cost of funds.
London-listed Shawbrook is one of several 'challenger banks' to emerge since the financial crisis to fill a gap in small business lending that appeared when larger banks slimmed down to focus on bolstering their capital to meet tougher regulatory requirements.
The bank's cost-to-income ratio reduced to 48.3 percent from 50.5 percent in 2014.
Shawbrook's peer Virgin Money Holdings Plc (>> Virgin Money Holdings (UK) PLC) reported a 53 percent jump in full-year underlying pre-tax profit on Wednesday, helped by growth in its core mortgages, savings and credit card businesses which outpaced the market.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
