Since announcing the sale of £584m worth of its personal loan book to focus on specialist finance lending, Metro Bank has seen a number of advances, including reaching £1bn in new corporate, commercial and SME lending.

In addition, earlier this year it revealed 2024’s commercial and corporate new loan originations grew by 71%.

But now, according to Mark, Metro has further plans for its commercial lending.

“We'd like to double the size of our lending, and we'd like to do some of that by increasing the number of colleagues we have in those specialist functions,” said Mark.

As part of this, Metro is focusing on SME commercial and corporate financing for businesses in England and Wales with £1m–25m turnover and up to £5m debt, as well as structured finance backing of sponsors for deals over £5m.

According to Mark, the bank has become more sector specialised, not only in its structured finance team but also in the assets it works with, particularly in hospitality and healthcare.

The firm now plans to increase its headcount to facilitate the projected doubling of its lending.

“The plan is to continue to find good commercial corporate bankers, especially in our sectors,” Mark explained.

Over the past year, Metro has appointed a commercial lending director for Wales and the South West, as well as two commercial lending directors for the North West. But while Mark plans to continue the recruitment drive, this is easier said than done in a growing specialist finance market.

“What we are looking to do is to continue to invest in new colleagues on a regular basis, but not compromise on experience and that specialist capability.

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“And of course that becomes more and more of a finite resource to tap into, and a competitive marketplace to tap into as well.”

The bank is strengthening its position in the specialist finance market, with broker-introduced cases rising from around 35% a year ago to 60% today. The growing team and sharper focus on the adviser market, Mark said, would be key to standing out as competition intensifies — even for a name as established as Metro.

“We're a mid-tier bank, one of the original challengers. And a number of other mid-tiers have come in to the specialist commercial lending market over the last 12 months as well.”

For Mark, this increased competition can only be a positive: “That's got to be good, right? It makes the market more competitive and makes it more professionalised as we go forward.”

Since launching further into the specialist finance space, Mark acknowledged that Metro had to make adjustments in getting the bank’s name out there to the commercial market.

This has included putting “more people on the ground” and increasing the use of local directors to build relationships with brokers and advisers who are more connected with the specialist lending market, rather than more generalised professions such as accountants and solicitors.

Metro is seeking more flexibility to compete with both national and regional lenders that entered the relationship-banking space after the major banks’ retreat a decade ago, according to Mark. He noted that broader political and social developments had also shaped the bank’s push to expand its commercial footprint.

“We felt that overall — and especially coming out of the pandemic — a lot of people [and] businesses had been treading water, and they would want to start investing in their business and expanding.

“And with the bigger picture, now that Brexit has happened and everybody's got past the first couple of years, people are looking for the opportunity to grow their business, and we wanted to be part of that.”

With plans in motion to double lending and grow its team, Davies stressed that brokers and lenders share a clear responsibility to the businesses they serve.

“The best thing we can do as brokers and advisers, or indeed as banks and financiers, is to listen to [businesses’] hopes and dreams… and try and help them by knocking something into shape for them, to help them go forward.

“We won't be able to help everybody, but we'd like to [help] as many as we can.”