Ethical bank Triodos has reported a rise in UK profits and customers, despite “challenging economic conditions” slowing investment plans.
The European financial institution, which has its British head office in Bristol, saw its UK arm generate profit after tax of £9.2m, up from £7.8m in its previous financial year, and yielding a 4.8% return on equity.
Triodos, which is focused on assets with a clear social, cultural or environmental impact, said UK customers numbers grew by 3.5% in the year to around 90,000 and customer deposits increased 2.1% to £1.6bn.
Total loans and advances contracted slightly to £1.12bn, with the bank saying sharply rising interest rates prompted higher levels of early repayment. Gross new sustainable lending dropped to £131m from £183m.
Bevis Watts, chief executive of Triodos Bank UK, said it had achieved “a sound financial performance given the external challenges”, of rising inflation and the energy crisis that followed the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Watts said “In these tumultuous times, long-standing global and societal issues, like climate change and inequality, can often feel like they are being side-lined. However, as we rebuild our economy, if we are to avoid future crises then we cannot simply follow the status quo. Triodos continues to be about challenging the existing narrative and championing a new way to do finance that’s good for people and planet.”
Across its wider operations Triodos, whose global headquarters is based in The Netherlands, saw its net profit dip to €49.9m (£43.8m) - down from €50.8m (£44.6m) last year.
Total assets under management also decreased over the last 12 months from €24.2bn (£21.2bn) to €22.6bn (£19.8bn), which the bank said was mainly caused by the repayment of targeted longer-term refinancing operations fund to the European Central Bank.
Jeroen Rijpkema, chair of the Executive Board and chief executive Triodos Bank said: "While the COVID-19 pandemic eased during 2022, the world faced challenges on other fronts such as the devastating war in Ukraine, rising costs, high inflation, climate change and inequality, exposing the vulnerability of our economic and social systems.
“In these challenging circumstances, Triodos Bank continued to successfully focus on combining its pursuit of growing positive societal impact with sound financial performance.”
Mr Rijpkema added a return to positive interest rates marked “the end of a challenging period through which we navigated well”. Triodos said it had co-financed more than 600 sustainable energy projects last year.
The bank employs around 300 staff UK staff, the majority of which are based in Bristol, with smaller offices in London and Edinburgh.
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