British lender Metro Bank triples half-year profit on lending pivot, cost cuts

(Reuters) -Britain's Metro Bank posted a more than threefold rise in underlying pre-tax profit for the first half of 2025 compared to the second half of 2024, driven by the lender's cost control measures and renewed focus on corporate and commercial lending.

The bank, launched in 2010 as a challenger to Britain's incumbent lenders, has faced a series of setbacks in recent years, including misclassification of loans and the abrupt exit of its founder Vernon Hill in 2019.

Although these resulted in mounting losses and regulatory fines, the lender returned to profitability in the second half of last year after shifting its focus to higher-yielding specialist mortgages and commercial lending.

For the six months ended June 30, Metro Bank reported an underlying pre-tax profit of 45.1 million pounds ($60 million), more than tripling the 12.8 million pounds posted in the previous six-month period.

($1 = 0.7517 pounds)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)