According to annual accounts filed at Companies House, the bank lent £97.5 million to businesses in 2012 which, compared to  the £32.3 million lent in the previous year, marks  a 302 per cent increase.

The figures also indicate that the bank lent more than £62 million in mortgages in 2012, up from £7 million in 2011.

Funding for Lending statistics released by the Bank of England last week indicate that the bank parted with £78 million in net lending for Q1 2013; bringing its cumulative net lending under the scheme to £171 million.

The company’s accounts further showed that the bank’s gross lending reached £168 million in 2012, up from £42 million in 2011. Deposit levels  rose, too, hitting £576 million,  a significant jump from the £152 million recorded in 2011 and £18 million in 2010.

During the same period, however, the group’s losses also increased sharply. In 2012, the bank had pre-tax losses of £45.7 million, up 38.2 per cent on the £33.1 million lost in 2011, and lost a further £8.8 million  in the first quarter of this year. After tax, the respective figures were £34.5 million and £7.1 million.

Operating expenses formed a large part of that increase, rising sharply to total £56.8 million after costing £37.6 million in 2011,  as the group continued its expansion.

It was also reported that Metro Bank had seen its total combined losses reach more than £100 million within three years since its launch.

As the first new bank to launch in the UK in more than a century, Metro Bank opened its first branch in Holborn, Central London in July 2010.  The firm now has more than 17  branches across the UK, with plans to increase this figure over the next five years.