Thu, 28 Sep 2023
The parent company of Conister Bank Limited, Manx Financial Group PLC has announced a record set of profits in its first half year results for 2023.
The company is driven primarily by Conister Bank, recorded a 30% increase in pre-tax profits to £3million.
In the first six months of 2023, Conister lent a record of £182.6million which is 65% ahead of the same period last year.
The data states that deposits increased by £78.9 million to £332.5 million.
Douglas Grant, Managing Director at Conister Bank and Group CEO of Manx Financial Group commented: “This is another set of strong results supported by our loyal Isle of Man deposit customers."
Douglas said the application for the UK Branch banking licence would allow Conister Bank to access additional liquidity in the form of non-transactional Deposit Accounts, which would complement its Isle of Man deposit taking licence. This extra liquidity will allow the Group to achieve its lending goals ambition for the year.
He recognised that the Bank of England’s 14 consecutive interest rate increases had negatively impacted Conister’s net interest margin, saying:
“This margin erosion is clear evidence of Conister Bank passing on interest rate increases to the Island’s long-suffering savers and, indeed, it has proved very successful in attracting a significant number of new depositors.
"During these challenging times, our lending products have consistently been in high demand, with this year's lending forecast to be in the region of £0.4 billion."
Douglas said he expected market conditions to remain challenging through to the second quarter of 2024, but the economy and businesses should pick up once interest rates started to fall.
“This will improve disposable income levels for corporates and individuals alike,” he advised.