Cambridge and Counties Bank profits before tax hit £24.4m in 2017, a 35% jump from the year before.
The bank, an SME lender with an asset finance business, is owned by University of Cambridge college Trinity Hall and the Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund.
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It said deposits totalled £798m, a 17% increase on 2016, which it said was driven by all of its products.
Its loan balances grew from £588m to £690m, and total assets hit £879m.
It had credit writes-offs in its Asset Finance and Property Finance book of £1.2m, the first time since the bank was founded.
Cambridge & Counties Bank said it had managed growth in its asset finance margins in 2017 despite challenges.
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By GlobalDataMike Kirsopp, chief executive officer, Cambridge & Counties Bank, wrote: “The Asset Finance market has seen little let up in the number of new players joining the ranks of willing funders, with a resultant downward pressure on margins across business in general.
“We continue to concentrate on sub-sectors where our value and quality proposition is most easily communicated, and have achieved growth in our margins on this business over the course of 2017.
“In terms of Brexit, the full effect of this will not be known for around four years, but in the meantime, we haven’t seen any significant impact on our markets or business.”
In 2016’s results, Kirsopp said: “On the asset finance side of the business rampant competition continues to destroy margins across the industry and whilst we have settled for lower returns to reflect this, we have continued to concentrate on financing business critical assets for strong borrowers.”
