Banking: Yorkshire Bank says customers open 28,930 accounts

Yorkshire Bank, which is expecting to demerge and launch an IPO imminently, said trading was in line with expectations.

The bank said Momentum in its loan book had been maintained, with 6.6 per cent annualised growth in mortgages during the period.

It added that its management is continuing to focus on tight operating cost control, alongside delivery of the planned programme of investment in the franchise to improve the product and service offering to customers and drive growth. National Australia Bank (NAB) is preparing to exit the UK market with the sale of Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale.

Yorkshire Bank chief executive David Duffy told The Yorkshire Post in December that the bank had “cleaned up” its legacy issues and was poised to become the best capitalised challenger bank in the market.

He added that both Clydesdale and its sister bank, Yorkshire Bank, would go back to their roots as local community brands when they complete their flotations on the London Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchanges on February 2.

National Australia Bank (NAB) is preparing to exit the UK market with the sale of Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale.

It hired Mr Duffy from Allied Irish Banks after his successful three-year turnaround of the nationalised lender.

Last year Clydesdale Bank was fined a record £20.7m after it was found thousands of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints may have been rejected unfairly.

In May, the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority demanded that NAB sets aside up to £1.7bn to cover potential losses from mis-selling and other conduct issues.

At the time, a bank spokesman said the £1.7bn was a form of “security blanket”, that NAB has to hold for the worst case scenario.

Mr Duffy added: “But more important than the clean-up, we’ve put in the structures processes and risk management and everything else that a best in class model would have to prevent them reoccurring.”