Paragon delivers upsurge in commercial lending
Paragon Banking Group revealed another quarter of strong growth today, delivering a total of £1.90bn of new lending across all business lines in the nine months to 30 June 2019.
Paragon’s Commercial Lending division, which includes development finance, asset finance, motor finance and structured lending, has grown its new lending to £0.71bn, up 58% from the previous year.
This growth reflects Paragon’s commitment to supporting more British SMEs in specialist lending markets.
Paragon has continued to strengthen its asset finance and development finance divisions. The development finance business has enhanced its product range following the acquisition of Titlestone Property Finance last year. Since then, Paragon has funded multiple projects in the South-East of England and has revealed plans to expand its services to small and medium sized property developers throughout the UK.
Paragon’s retail savings deposits rose to £6.1bn at the quarter end.
Richard Doe, managing director of Commercial Lending at Paragon, said:
“We have delivered another strong quarter of lending growth. While the economic backdrop continues to be uncertain, we also see a great deal of opportunity in specialist markets. We remain committed to ensuring that British SMEs get the funding they need to grow their businesses.”
Outside of commercial lending, the Group saw continued growth in mortgages, with its buy-to-let pipeline rising from £711m to £733m over the quarter. Growing appetite from professional landlords saw Paragon increase its share of the market with 89% of completions being from complex landlords, compared to 76% in 2018.
