OakNorth Bank’s pre-tax profits grow to over £152m as it continues to support UK businesses through ongoing economic challenges

London, UK, 28th March 2023; OakNorth – the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – today publishes its 2022 Annual Report, revealing pre-tax profits of £152.3m and new milestones hit on its mission to support the “Missing Middle” – the bank’s term for established small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) who are seeking to scale, but are routinely overlooked or  underserved by larger banks.

In 2022, OakNorth completed over £1.5b of new lending and grew its depositor base to over 214,000 customers[1], keeping up its track record of supporting successful growth businesses across Britain. Since its launch in September 2015, OakNorth has lent over £8.5b, directly supporting the creation of more than 38,000 new jobs and over 27,000 new homes – the majority of which are affordable homes.

OakNorth’s unique approach to lending – through building a granular, forward-looking view of performance and risk – enables it to better understand its customers across origination, lending and credit. OakNorth has continued to support customers with confidence through different phases of the economic cycle, helping to drive positive outcomes and enable businesses to adapt and thrive regardless of the ongoing economic challenges.

OakNorth’s tech-first mindset in service of customer outcomes has resulted in c.80% of new lending coming through referrals and more than 40% repeat borrowers. Today, OakNorth’s loan book stands at £4.6b and it has an industry-leading cost-to-income / efficiency ratio of 26%, as well as an RORE of 26%[2]. Even as OakNorth continues to scale, it’s loan book remains exceptionally strong with write-offs averaging an annual cost of risk of just twelve basis points.

This robust position enabled OakNorth to recently lead a bid for the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank, seeing it as an opportunity to support even more high-growth companies as well as the UK’s tech ecosystem, where it is an active leader.

OakNorth has leveraged its proprietary technology, ON Credit Intelligence, to lend faster, smarter, and more to businesses that are often overlooked and underserved by traditional banks. Wielding technology with its unique forward-looking view of risk and laser focus on customer outcomes, has enabled the bank to continue profitably lending through economic cycles. At the same time, strong governance and sound risk management frameworks and practices mean the bank continues to manage risks appropriately and maintain adequate surplus liquidity and capital resources to withstand impact under severe stress scenarios.

Rishi Khosla, CEO and co-founder of OakNorth, said: “Over the last 12 months, we have continued to develop and acquire expertise and technology to go ‘beyond banking’ and customise for the specific needs of the businesses we work with. Traditional banks provide business-as-usual banking, but very few are willing or equipped to support growth companies in tougher economic times like these, and simply don’t have the technological capabilities to cater to their dynamic and ever-evolving needs. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we speak their language and have seen first-hand the hurdles that these companies face during crucial growth milestones. Despite dramatic leaps in technology, and infinitely more data available than in recent decades, the experience most businesses have with traditional banks remains abysmal.”

“Seven years on from OakNorth’s launch, we are as passionate as we were on day zero about empowering the UK’s entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and deliver prosperity for our nation. Their success is our success, and we continue to be excited for what we can and will achieve throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond.”

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Notes to editors

[1] Includes customers acquired via deposit partners

2 Net income expressed as a percentage of regulatory equity capital required

About OakNorth Bank plc

Launched in September 2015 and founded by entrepreneurs, OakNorth is a digital bank which provides the UK’s fastest-growing and most ambitious businesses with the fast, flexible debt finance (loans of £250k up to tens of millions) they need to scale, while also helping savers make their money go further.

To date, the bank has lent several billion pounds to businesses across the UK and across a wide range of sectors, achieving performance metrics that place it amongst the top 1% of commercial banks globally. Its loans have directly contributed to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, as well as tens of thousands of new homes – the majority of which are affordable and social housing. Through delighting customers – 80% of OakNorth Bank’s new lending comes from referrals – its growth has been driven by word of mouth.

It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Visit www.oaknorth.co.uk for more information.

Contact 

Tom Pavey-Smith, Associate Director, Growth & Communications – [email protected] / [email protected] / 0791 716 5588

Brunswick Group – [email protected]

[1] Includes customers acquired via deposit partners

[2] Net income expressed as a percentage of regulatory equity capital required

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