Metro Bank has been awarded £120 million in funding from BCR, sending shares higher on Friday.

The challenger bank said the additional funds will allow the bank to open new locations in the North by 2025, in turn helping to “radically transform” The UK’s small and medium sized enterprises (SME) banking experience.

Craig Donaldson, Chief Executive Officer at Metro Bank commented: “Securing this award from BCR Ltd allows us to accelerate our plans to revolutionise banking for SMEs. It will help us bring much needed competition to the underserved SME hotspots in the North, while investing in our digital capabilities and creating new jobs. We already provide tens of thousands of businesses with market-leading service and convenience, and these funds will enable us to introduce new services and products for more SME customers across the country.”

The funds were awarded by the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR). The funds will be provided by RBS (LON:RBS), under conditions of the government-led bail out of the bank back in 2008.

Metro Bank was founded back in 2010 by Anthony Thomson and Vernon Hill. It is now a constituent of the FTSE 250 on the London Stock Exchange.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Metro Bank had topped an industry customer service survey.

The bank received an 83% customer satisfaction rate, according to the survey conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

At the other end of the table, RBS came last with a customer satisfaction of 47%.

Metro Bank shares (LON:MTRO) are currently +4.40% as of 10:36AM (GMT).