Heritable reveals strong 2006

This took profits to £10.7 million compared to £7.5 million for 2005. Assets of £877 million were also reported, an increase of 40 per cent for the year.

Other highlights include:

• Customer deposits increased by 44% to £714 million
• Mortgage book increased by 45%
• Structured Property Finance book up by 27%
• Pre-tax operating return on equity of 24%.

Mark Sismey-Durrant, chief executive, commented: "Performance for 2006 has been extremely pleasing for the Bank’s operations. Heritable Bank has significantly increased the scale and diversity of its operations during the year, resulting in both higher profitability and return on equity. In addition, the Bank has performed major strategic roles for the Landsbanki Group, our parent bank, in the UK and invested in infrastructure and people in 2006; this will further enhance performance during the course of 2007."

Ketan Malde, chief operating officer and finance director, added: "The results announced today demonstrate that the Bank has achieved the goal of year on year double digit asset and profit growth. The Bank has strong capital ratios and asset quality remains good. We are on track to meet the shareholder objective of achieving scale, combined with long-term sustainable profitable growth, across all areas of operation."