A WARRINGTON specialist business bank, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, believes its approach is exactly what British SMEs ‘want and need’.

Redwood Bank has loaned more than £155 million to people and properties in Warrington and the north west since launching in 2017.

This represents approximately 33 per cent of Redwood Bank’s lending.

Gary Wilkinson, co-founder and CEO, said: “We showed throughout the pandemic that we have a robust business model that can enable organisations throughout the north west to keep growing.

“We are part of this community and we want to continue to deliver to this important region.”

The award-winning bank, which marked its fifth birthday with official celebrations for staff, continued to lend to businesses during the challenging Covid-19 period ‘when high street banks were reluctant to’.

Its loan book increased by 14 per cent to £370 million during the year to December 31, 2021 as it stepped in to support businesses that were struggling to find the necessary funding. The bank made a profit before tax of £2.2 million, following a £1.7 million loss the previous year.

Redwood will continue to support growth by increasing resources to support both lending and savings customers, but also in specialist areas such as IT, risk and compliance.

It is investigating expanding into adjacent asset classes that leverage existing relationships to ensure it continues to demonstrate strong growth.

The bank is also committed to supporting numerous initiatives and charities and has appointed a director of ESG to ensure it has the resources to truly make a difference.

Gary said: “We have proved that we are doing the right thing. And we want to continue to do the right thing. Our first five years have thrown up challenges that no-one could have predicted, but we rose to these challenges.

“It was sink or swim, and we didn’t just swim, we gave a performance Adam Peaty would have been proud of. And that has set us up for the next five years.

“We reported our first profit in 2021 and have continued this momentum into 2022.

“We have big aspirations for Redwood Bank. We will ensure that the resources are at hand to truly make a difference for our stakeholders. By investing in our people and customers we will continue to deliver excellent levels of customer service as we enter the next phase of our growth.”