Atom has seen growth in its mortgage portfolio, having added £362m of mortgages in the second half of its financial year 2020/21.
Atom, the UK’s first app-based bank, is to raise £40m from existing shareholders as it moves to profitability from its mortgage and business lending within a year, and to IPO the year after.
Atom’s revenues are growing and the bank is on course to achieve 1% of Net Interest Margin (NIM) by the end March 2021. Simultaneously, Atom has seen growth in its mortgage portfolio, having added £362m of mortgages in the second half of its financial year 2020/21.
Since its launch, Atom has loaned £2.8bn to UK mortgage customers. The lender issued a £775m prime mortgage securitisation last year.
Mark Mullen, chief executive officer at Atom, said: “We think of Atom as an exceptionally engaging and efficient banking machine that helps and supports customers to own their homes or build their businesses.
"We’ve been there for new and existing customers during the pandemic, and in a year when we have held our operating costs constant I’m delighted that we have coupled substantial income growth with an enviable record of customer experience.”
Asked about the possibility of an IPO for Atom, Mullen said: “We turn to our shareholders for capital as and when we need it to drive growth.
"Despite it being a difficult environment for all companies that need to raise funding, this capital raise will allow us to continue to progress towards profitability and ever-improving levels of efficiency and engagement. The team retains an IPO as our objective and we’ll take the business there when we and the markets are ready. After the year that’s just gone I’m not going to claim perfect foresight, but we’re looking at the financial year 2022/23 as our IPO target.”
