Metro Bank posts first quarterly underlying profit as deposits grow

(Reuters) - British lender Metro Bank Plc (MTRO.L) reported a third-quarter underlying profit before tax, driven by growth in lending, deposits and customer accounts.

* The company, which listed on the London Stock Exchange inMarch, reported underlying pretax profit of 600,000 pounds inthe quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of 3.4 millionpounds in the second quarter.

* The company, which offers retail, business and privatebanking, said lending jumped 73 percent to 5.19 billion poundsfrom a year earlier. Total deposits rose 66 percent to about7.30 billion pounds.

* The lender, which opened its forty-third store this month,said cost of deposits in the quarter was 80 basis points, downfrom 87 basis points in the previous quarter.

* "Q4 will see a further fall as deposit re-pricing comesinto effect following the reduction in Base Rate in August."Metro Bank said in a statement * The company, Britain's first new High Street bank in over100 years, said total revenue rose 78 percent to 53.4 millionpounds during the quarter.

* The company said customer accounts rose to 848,000 at theend of September, from 780,000 at the end of June.

* Metro Bank kicks off third-quarter results releases forBritain's "challenger banks", listed in London with the aim ofchallenging Britain's "Big 5" lenders.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)