The AIM-listed specialist bank is also targeting a 15% return on equity (RoE) by the same date, and hopes to eventually achieve its objective of growing the size of its portfolio to £1bn.

In an exclusive interview with Specialist Banking, Scott Maybury, chief executive at PCF Bank (pictured above), said: “We have existing medium-term targets of a £750m portfolio and a 15% RoE by September 2022.

“Our long-term aspirations are, namely, to grow the size of our portfolio to £1bn, as well as to further diversify our balance sheet, following successful entries into the bridging market and broadcast equipment financing.”

Scott added that PCF was “confident” of managing any uncertainty in the coming year, following the additional £10.75m which was raised in February by the specialist bank ahead of the original Brexit deadline in March.

“Now we have got that capital on our balance sheet, we are confident that we are able to manage any uncertainty in the coming year and continue to meet our growth targets.

“Being a small bank with a small market share, we feel like we can still be very nimble in the marketplace and have lots of opportunity to grow in the sector.”

Scott also highlighted the bank’s continuing efforts to take advantage of new technology, recognising it as the “enabler of growth and profitability”.

“We have upgraded our consumer finance platform this year and will do likewise in 2020 with our SME lending platform.

“The automation and digitalisation this year have included many leading-edge changes, including the use of Open Banking to assist credit decisioning.

“These changes will be rolled out in the coming year and are an exciting development for the group.”