Atom bank losses narrow as lending operations up by £600m

The UK's first app-based bank, Atom, recorded a 200 per cent increase in income, as costs rose by a meager 6 per cent for the 2022 fiscal year.

After delivering its first monthly operating profit at the beginning of the 2022 reporting year, Durham-based Atom has recorded three consecutive quarters of operating profits. 

This marks a turnaround for Atom, which disclosed an operating loss of £36m at the end of the previous reporting year. 

At the time, £40m of equity capital was raised to fund the company's operating losses. Atom has now narrowed its operating losses to £2m. 

Much of this growth has stemmed from Atom's business and retail lending activities, growing its total loan book from £2.7bn to £3.3bn over the course of the year. 

Mortgage activities, in particular, have driven Atom's growth for the year to March 2022 with the neo bank expanding its on-balance sheet residential lending assets to £1.5bn, up £500m from 2021. 

Not only have Near-Prime retail mortgages been added to its residential lending offering, Atom's saver rates too have helped grow and consolidate its customer base. 

Launched in 2021, Atom's Instant Access Saver savings account currently pays users a market-leading 1.35 per cent interest. 

It's savings account offering has now become a reliable source of low-cost funding, with balances increased by 85 per cent since 2021. 

At present, total deposit balances at the end of the year rest at £3.2bn, a third more than in the previous reporting year.

"Banks are taking advantage of interest rates […] but more recently they have started to increase the cost of borrowing," Atom CEO Mark Mullen said.

"With a cost-of-living crisis looming large its disappointing, but hardly surprising."

"We are here to make the experience of borrowing and saving simpler, faster and better value than anyone else," he added.