In the company's latest trading update, the bank announced it had provided ?£366.5m in mortgages, up from the ?£198.8m recorded 12 months earlier.

Buy-to-let mortgage lending jumped 85%, followed by 'other mortgages' (up 74%).

Earlier this month, Paragon introduced an extended range of portfolio and non-portfolio buy-to-let mortgage products.

Total new lending at the company rose 65% – compared with the same period in 2016 – to ?£469.8m.

The specialist bank saw strong volume growth in its three commercial lending product lines, with commercial lending totalling ?£103.3m, a 21% increase on the last three months of 2016.

In December, Paragon acquired the Poole-based specialist broker Iceberg, which sources loans for mid-sized UK law firms.

Nigel Terrington, chief executive of Paragon Banking Group (pictured above), said: "The lending growth achieved across the group has been outstanding and reflects the increasing strength of the franchise.

“Our retail deposit base continues to deepen, providing us with a stable platform for growth and the ability to optimise further the group's funding structure.

“The organisational changes we completed last year – coupled with the growing demand and opportunity within specialist UK lending markets – will enable us to build on this momentum throughout the year."

At the beginning of the year, the company announced that it had reached ?£4bn in customer deposits, as well as surpassing 120,000 savings accounts.

The news followed the launch of a new, limited-edition easy access savings account announced by the bank in November 2017.