A Warrington specialist business bank, celebrating its fifth anniversary, has pledged to continue investing in its people and customers as it targets the next five years.
Redwood Bank, which achieved profitability for the first time in 2021, believes its approach is exactly what British SMEs want and need.
The Bank has loaned more than £155million 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, way ahead of the industry average of 10 per cent for this region.
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 £370m 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 £2.2m, following a £1.7m 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.”
Professor Steven Broomhead, Warrington Council Chief Executive, said: “Redwood Bank is making a great contribution to levelling up in Warrington and the North West as well as helping to rebalance our economy by sector and geography. The growth of their offices at The Base demonstrates the cementing of the bank as part of our community.”
For further information, visit www.redwoodbank.co.uk
Redwood Bank CEO and Co-Founder Gary Wilkinson, Warrington Council Chief Executive Professor Steven Broomhead, Redwood Bank Chairman Mark Winlow