Paragon Banking Group saw underlying profits jump 61.8% to £194.2m in the year to 30 September. This is up from the £120m profit recorded for the same period a year earlier.
The group has announced a full year dividend of 26p, which increased from 14.4p last year.
Nigel Terrington, chief executive, said: “We have delivered an outstanding performance in 2021, which is testament to the strength of our operating model, the quality of our customer base and the capability and adaptability of our people.”
“Every lending business in the Group has this year made excellent progress, and at over £2.6 billion, aggregate new lending now comfortably exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
“We have made huge strides on the funding side, growing retail deposits by 18.4% at attractive rates, and have delivered significant digital improvements as part of the Group’s cloud-based strategy,” he added.
“We enter 2022 with strong pipelines at near-record levels, improved margins and the capital to continue to invest in and grow our business, as well as deliver additional returns for shareholders via a new buyback programme and materially increasing our full year dividend,”