It is the second year in a row that the commercial finance arm of the specialist bank has doubled lending, with the lender providing nearly £2bn of client invoices since its inception in 2014.

Major transactions over the last 12 months include a £15m asset-based lending facility to Carpet & Flooring (Trading) Limited to support acquisitions and new branch openings.

The lender also provided a £2.3m finance facility to Twisted Automotive, a business which re-engineers new and used Land Rover Defenders.

“Doubling our lending balances two years in a row is a massive achievement, and is indicative of how far we have come as a lender,” said John Bevan, managing director at Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance (pictured above).

“We're now on our way to another significant milestone, having almost funded £2bn of client invoices, nearly £1bn of which have come in the last 12 months.

“But it's not all about numbers; we've also increased our focus on completing quality deals and backing ambitious and talented management teams.”

The wider Secure Trust Bank Group also reported strong figures with pre-tax profits rising to £25m in the last 12 months.

“As we continue to build our nationwide footprint, we are looking to establish a number of dedicated offices for the UK regions so we can serve SMEs across the country,” added John.

“As we already have sales directors across every local market, the foundations are set for us to scale up and become the nation's leading provider of alternative finance.”