OakNorth: Shareholders to be handed £40m as US expansion boosts profit
Profit at challenger bank OakNorth has surged thanks to its expansion into the USA, it has been revealed.
The London-headquartered digital bank has reported a pre-tax profit of £214.8m for 2024, up from the £187.3m it posted for the previous 12 months.
Over the year, OakNorth provided more than £2.1bn in gross new lending to “ambitious and innovative businesses” across the UK and the US.
To date, OakNorth’s total cumulative credit facilities have grown to £12.5bn up from £10.2bn at the end of 2023.
The bank has been operating in the US since the middle of 2023. By the end of 2024, it had lent $685m (£532m).
As a result of its financial success, OakNorth paid its first-ever dividend in August 2024 of £20m, with shareholders set to receive a share of £40m in the coming months.
OakNorth boss: ‘We are bullish for 2025’
Rishi Khosla, CEO and co-founder of OakNorth, said: “Over the last year, we have continued to invest in and develop our offering for our customers, expanding both our product suite and our geographic footprint.
“The compounding power of consistent double-digit growth across our net income and return on equity is profound, and is driven by our strong customer satisfaction, proprietary tech, data, efficient operations, and disciplined credit approach.
“Despite ongoing macro-economic challenges, we are bullish for 2025, and excited about helping even more exceptional businesses and entrepreneurs on their scaling journeys.”
OakNorth is chaired by independent peer Lord Adair Turner who was chairman of the Financial Services Authority during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
In December, Khosla warned that “wealth creators” are fleeing the UK over tax hikes as he accused the new government of falling short on entrepreneurship.
He told Morning Wire that “even when you have a balanced view, it’s hard to see how” Labour has delivered on its promise to boost economic growth.
“When you engage with the current government… they seem to understand very clearly that growth is the way to take the UK where it needs to go,” he said. “But the action doesn’t necessarily match the narrative.”