The Shariah-compliant lender says its home finance offering for UK residents, UK expats and international owner-occupiers and landlords jumped by 40% to £762m, in the year to the end of December, boosted by a record number of new originations.

It says this growth was aided by “the launch of a series of higher finance-to-value products to assist UK home buyers with smaller deposits, as well as first-time buyers”.

Th group adds that total deposits grew 28% to £897m, lifted by the launch of its Woodland Saver product, which pledges to plant a tree for every account opened or renewed. It has so far planted 10,000 trees across the UK.

The bank says its overall income lifted by 30% to £28.5m, while gross assets under management grew by 24% to £1.03bn. Its common equity tier 1 ratio fell to 18%, from 21% the year before.

During the year, the bank says it sold its first private rented sector fund sold to Goldman Sacs for £150m and launched its third private rented sector fund in a £500m joint venture with Texas Pacific Group Real Estate, which plans to build 2,500 houses for rental to families across the UK.

Gatehouse Bank chief executive Charles Haresnape says: “In a year characterised by the ongoing challenge of the global pandemic, Gatehouse made strong progress, with the expansion of service lines translating to growth of our customer base and the achievement of a profitable return for the second year in a row.

“Product innovation was a key driver of growth in 2021 – with the introduction of our award-winning Woodland Saver on the savings side of the business, as well as a series of higher finance to value products, resulting in us welcoming a record number of new home finance customers to the bank.

“Developments in our build-to-rent business have also helped further establish our position as a market leader in this sector.”