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Paragon Bank's SME loan book hits £817.5m




Paragon Bank has announced a 7.3% increase in lending in its SME division, in addition to an expansion of the business line’s loan book.

In its full-year results for the 12 months to the end of September 2024, the bank saw lending increase to £480.7m.

Additionally, Paragon recorded loan book growth of 7.9% to £817.5m.

Meanwhile, its short-term lending to professional services firms stood at £135.2m.

Paragon reported that 69% of the division’s applications now come through its broker portal, enabling more applications for smaller loan values.


John Phillipou, managing director of SME lending at Paragon Bank (pictured above), said: “We’re delighted to have increased our new lending and grown our loan book in challenging market conditions.

“We have recorded consistent growth since the pandemic, driven by our improved digital offering and the bolstering of our client-facing teams.

 “We have ambitious growth plans and will soon embark on upgrading our back-end systems, giving us a strong platform to accelerate our expansion.”

Overall, the group reported a 5.4% uptick in operating profits before fair value items to £292.7m and a 5.6% rise in its net loan book to £15.7bn.

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