Atom Bank, the digital challenger bank, hailed its best year yet but cautioned that it is still barely making a dent in the dominance of the major high street banks such as Lloyds and Natwest.
Mark Mullen, the mortgage lender’s chief executive, told PA it was proving a challenge to “disrupt the status quo” in the banking sector, even though it was doing well.
“UK banking remains dominated by players with low growth, high costs and indifferent customer service,” he said.
“We remain entirely focused on serving the needs of borrowers and savers, without the soaring costs and operational complexity of transactional banking products like current accounts.”
Mullen said savings rates offered by Atom consistently outstripped the major lenders with fixed rate deals of up to 5.125%..
The bank reported an operating profit of £27 million for the year to the end of March, up seven-fold from twelve months ago.
Borrowings rose by 39% to £4.1 billion with residential mortgage balances up by 55%.
In 2021, Atom notably and publicly introduced a four-day working week for its 500 staff with no salary deduction.