By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
Metro Bank, the first new retail lender on Britain's high streets for more than a century, is closing in on its first-ever acquisition as it attempts to accelerate its challenge to the industry's major players.
Sky News understands that Metro Bank is close to striking a deal to acquire SME Invoice Finance, a provider of alternative forms of finance and working capital to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).
The acquisition is designed to diversify Metro Bank's business model and funding at a time when its core banking business is demonstrating rapid growth.
A person close to Metro Bank said the deal, thought to be worth several million pounds, was expected to be signed on Thursday and announced within days.
Earlier this week, Metro Bank announced that it had accumulated a deposit base of £870m, a 25% quarter-on-quarter increase, while its after-tax loss for the three months ended June 30 was £12.4m.
"Recent reductions in the future rate of UK Corporation Tax announced by the UK government are positive for shareholder returns in the long run but reduce the value of the current operating losses adversely impacting the current after tax return," it said in a circular to shareholders.
Metro Bank, which now has 19 branches (referred to by the company as stores), said customer accounts had increased from 136,000 on 1 January 2013 to 202,000 on June 30 and 214,000 by July 29.
Sky News revealed in May that losses at Metro Bank had passed £100m since the lender's establishment. The figures underline the costs associated with breaking into the UK's retail banking sector at a time when the Government is attempting to stimulate new competition through a string of policy measures.
The UK banking regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has reduced the level of capital required to be held by Metro Bank by a quarter, "reflecting the increasing maturity of the bank and the quality of risk management", it told shareholders in May.
Metro Bank is chaired by Vernon Hill, who enjoyed huge commercial success with the launch of similar banking ventures in the US.
Its directors include Luke Johnson, the restaurants entrepreneur, and Lord Flight, former chief secretary to the Treasury.
The lender has raised hundreds of millions of pounds from shareholders to fund its launch and subsequent expansion, and is targeting a stock exchange listing as soon as next year.
A Metro Bank spokeswoman declined to comment on the SME Invoice Finance deal.
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