Wrexham-based Chetwood Bank takes on London rivals with £1bn jump in deposits
Chetwood Bank has seen a near-£1bn jump in customer deposits as the Wrexham-based business wrestled market share from London fintech rivals.
The Welsh digital bank, owned by US investment fund Elliott, posted a £960m increase in customer deposits in the year to March, bringing them to £3.8bn, a rise of just over a third, according to its latest accounts.
The leap in deposits means Chetwood is quickly catching up with incumbent fintech rivals.
The firm now has greater deposits than Zopa and Atom held in 2022 and is roughly equivalent to those Monzo held in 2022. Chetwood itself held just £300m in deposits in 2022, in signs of the bank’s rapid growth in the following years.
“In order to fund its balance sheet growth, Chetwood has invested heavily in its retail savings proposition,” the company said in a statement. “Chetwood’s retail savings proposition continues to go from strength to strength.”
Chetwood said the launch of an organic easy access product was pivotal to the growth in customer deposits, raising £635m by year-end.
Rising deposits helped Chetwood grow its lending book, with gross loans and advances to customers jumping 45 per cent over the year to £2.7bn.
Since year end, the bank’s balance sheet has exceeded £5bn for the first time, after growing by £1bn in just three months.
Speaking to Morning Wire in July, chief executive Paul Noble said, “We consider not just what products we’re offering but how can customers access and manage their savings with us.
“I think the key piece on that really has been around digital simplification. It’s getting rid of all that red tape, getting rid of all the complexity.”
Chetwood increased its staffing numbers by around 10 per cent to 332 during the year.
The firm posted a loss of £4.7m for the year, a reduction on the £8.9m loss the year before.
To fund its growth, Chetwood raised another £47m from its owner and principal investor, Elliott Investment Management, with £20m of that raised after March this year.