The boss of the Cambridge and Counties business bank said volumes were up during the pandemic due to the dedication of his team and investment in new geographies and areas such as IT.
Chief executive Donald Kerr said the specialist lender recorded a near 9 per cent rise in loans and advances in 2020 to 拢828 million.
Gross new lending, he said, was up more than a third across the year to 拢220 million, as the bank weathered the economic crisis and continued to support 海角视频 SMEs.
However pre-tax profits halved to 拢11.2 million 鈥 described as a 鈥渧ery resilient performance鈥 by the bank鈥檚 chairman 鈥 compared to 拢22.5 million in 2019.
He said the bank had invested significantly in its digital and technology infrastructure and expects to invest a further 拢2 million in 2021.
The niche bank, which has its headquartered in New Walk, Leicester, has been operating for nine years and specialises in secured lending and deposit accounts for small and medium sized businesses, with a strong real estate investor client base.
It is jointly owned by Trinity Hall, a College of the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund.
The new accounts followed a tough 2019, which was described as its most challenging year yet, due to a combination of political uncertainty, a general economic slowdown 鈥 even before the coronavirus hit 鈥 and a lack of confidence in consumer markets.
During 2020 the bank鈥檚 total assets rose to 拢1.074 billion, up from 拢1.004 billion in 2019, with customer deposits increasing to 拢917 million from 拢854 million.
The bank expanded into Scotland during the year and its overall headcount was up 11 per cent at 165.
Mr Kerr replaced Mike Kirsopp as CEO last year, while Tina Hayton-Banks became the business鈥檚 chief operating officer, Mike Hudson became chief risk officer and, more recently, David Holton was appointed to the new role of chief transformation officer.
Mr Kerr said: 鈥淚n what was a profoundly impacted year for the 海角视频 economy, our customers, our staff and our markets, Cambridge & Counties Bank delivered a very strong performance.
鈥淲e remained open for business and volumes increased 鈥 our organic asset growth was not supplemented by government-backed initiatives.
鈥淚鈥檓 immensely proud of the spirit and dedication shown by the bank鈥檚 employees and their continued focus on customer service as well as delivering a differentiated, competitive proposition through our broker partners and directly for our customers.
鈥淚mportantly, we continued to invest in the business during 2020, particularly with regards to our geographic coverage, in new staff, and the technology that underpins the bank鈥檚 success.
鈥淲e are well placed to benefit as the 海角视频 economy normalises and real estate investors, business owners and our broad base of customers are themselves focused on growth and new opportunities.鈥
鈥淭he bank completed the first stage of a new business intelligence platform 鈥 a company-wide data warehouse that incorporates data from the bank鈥檚 core banking platform, asset finance system, and financial crime and contact strategy databases as well as climate data.
鈥淎mong other developments, a new deposits servicing customer portal was also launched.鈥
Bank chairman Simon Moore said: 鈥淥ur profit before tax, while lower than 2019, represents a very resilient performance in these extraordinary times.
鈥淭here were, of course, headwinds, but looking forward we are optimistic.
鈥淲e have had a good start to 2021 with income in Q1 higher than the same period a year ago and continued growth in the balance sheet driven by our core real estate lending business.
鈥淲e know our customers value highly our products and services, and we are committed to delivering an exceptional proposition for all our stakeholders.鈥
