Shawbrook Group plc has this morning announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

It is the latest so-called ‘challenger bank’ to seek an an initial public offering, with Aldermore revealing its plans earlier this week.

Shawbrook operates in five lending divisions: commercial mortgages, asset finance, business credit, secured lending and consumer lending.

Richard Pyman, CEO of Shawbrook, said: “We are delighted to announce our intention to float which marks the next stage in our growth story. In the four years since our foundation, we have built a business that provides UK customers with a fresh, pragmatic approach to lending and savings built on traditional values of respect, care, good sense and thoughtful judgement.

“Our focus on specialist teams, working in carefully selected markets and with a human approach to decision-making to deliver excellent customer service, has enabled us to develop a clearly differentiated business with impressive returns. It has enabled us to build a diversified, well-collateralised and growing book, increasing customer loans by over £900 million to £2.3 billion in the year to 31 December 2014, while achieving an underlying profit before tax of £49.1 million, all supported by a prudently structured retail deposit funding base.

“We believe we are well-positioned to achieve long-term sustainable growth and that Shawbrook will become an increasingly well-known name in the specialist world of British banking.”