The challenger bank’s Q3 results found that total lending rose to £13.1bn up 52% on Q3 2017 with net lending in the quarter exceeding £1bn for the fourth successive quarter.

Metro Bank also posted an underlying profit before tax of £39.2m for the nine months to 30th September 2018, a 197% increase on the same period last year.

The results also showed that Metro Bank had surpassed 1.5 million customer accounts, increasing the total by 303,000 over the first nine months of 2018, and up 102,000 in the quarter.

Commercial lending grew by 43% to £4.2bn compared with the same period in 2017 (Q3 2017: £2.9bn).

Meanwhile, residential mortgage lending rose 58% to £8.7bn, up from £5.5bn last year.

Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank (pictured above), said the first nine months of 2018 showed another strong performance.

"Our integrated, frictionless model – stores, online, mobile and phone – combined with superior service is a winning formula for our customers.  

“We have continued to invest in our mobile services and have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence with the launch of our new Insights tool.”  

Vernon Hill, chairman and founder at Metro Bank, added: "Since we opened the doors to our first store in July 2010, we have transformed Metro Bank from a vision to over £20bn in assets, from a single store to a network of 60 and from the first customer to over 1.5 million customer accounts.  

“This year we brought the revolution further west with our new store in Bristol and reached fans across the UK with our current account online."