Total deposits of £16.2 billion increased by £0.6 billion from the full year position reflecting the continued success of the deposit campaign launched in the fourth quarter. The significant levels of liquidity raised in Q4 2023 now enable the Group to focus on low-cost relationship deposits to manage down the cost of funding. Deposits decreased by over £0.2 billion in March.

The underlying service-led core deposit franchise saw continued growth during the quarter, increasing by more than 50,000 personal and business current accounts.

Total lending of £11.8 billion is down compared to the full year position as the bank strategically repositions its balance sheet towards higher yielding Specialist Mortgages and SME/ Commercial lending. The focus remains on optimising risk-adjusted returns on regulatory capital to improve margins and profitability.

Daniel Frumkin, Chief Executive Officer at Metro Bank, said:

"Following the successful deposit campaign launched in Q4, we have implemented our plans to reduce cost of deposits and optimise our elevated liquidity position; this led to a modest reduction of higher cost deposits in March. Lending activity levels are in line with expectations and the pivot to higher margin commercial and residential lending progresses, with lending balances reflecting the time lag between committing facilities and subsequent draw down. During the period we also maintained our focus on people-people banking and relationship-based services, with further growth across personal and business current accounts. Based on performance in the first quarter we remain confident that financial results will continue to improve throughout 2024 as we optimise funding, deliver on cost savings, continue our asset rotation and benefit from lower yielding fixed rate treasury and mortgage maturities."