Aldermore has reported growth in its asset finance business over the first six months of the year, with net lending increasing by 11% to £1.5bn.

This growth was driven by organic origination which increased by 20% to £509m. The challenger bank’s asset finance division now lends to around 46,000 SMEs across Britain, an increase of 9% over the first six months of the year.

The business has rewarded growth in its wholesale deals by promoting its head of wholesale, Lee Rhodes, to commercial director in the wholesale & structured asset finance team.

Rhodes joined Aldermore in 2014 and has led the wholesale asset finance team since then. Prior to joining Aldermore, Rhodes spent 10 years in the financial products team at ING Lease (UK) and also held positions within Investec and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein structuring receivables and asset finance transactions.

He reports to Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director for business finance.

Overall, Aldermore’s half year 2016 financial results showed that the bank is supporting more UK SMEs, homeowners and landlords than ever before, increasing customer numbers by 8% since the start of the year to around 77,000 with net lending up by £0.7bn or 11% to £6.8bn (31 December 2015: £6.1bn).

Rhodes said: “I’m proud of what my team and the Bank as a whole has achieved in the last couple of years. I’m keen to build on this success in my new role and look forward to continuing our efforts to grow and develop our support for Britain’s SMEs.”

D’Ammassa added: “Since joining Aldermore, Lee has led the Wholesale team to ever greater success. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his new role, which is well deserved. With our experience leadership team, we are well-placed to be able to provide SMEs with the funding they need to grow and in turn boost the vital contribution that smaller businesses make to the UK economy.”