The board of a bank based in the county has agreed terms on a £1.6 billion merger.

Chatham-based OneSavings Bank (OSB), which trades as Kent Reliance, confirmed this morning the board of it and fellow challenger bank Charter Court have agreed terms to unite.

It comes hot on the heels of an announcement earlier this week that the two were engaged in talks.

Under the agreed terms, OSB will pay 0.8253 new shares for each Charter Court share.

It will give OSB a 55% stake in the combined company.

OSB chief executive Andy Golding will retain the position in the new firm, with April Talintyre, currently chief financial officer of OSB, also retaining her position.

The two boards believe by combining they can "create a leading specialist lender in the UK with greater scale and resources to deploy on growth opportunities".

Chatham will continue to be the group's headquarters, with Charter Court's Wolverhampton HQ also retained.

David Weymouth, chairman of OSB, said: “The combination will create a leading specialist lender that we believe will benefit from enhanced scale, product offerings and a robust and diversified funding platform.

"Both businesses bring complementary strengths which we fully expect will position the combined business to continue to deliver for its customers and shareholders.

"The OSB board and management team have built a strong, customer-focused approach that we believe can develop from strength to strength through the combination with Charter Court and continue to grow the businesses within the fragmented specialist lending segment.”

OSB also released its financial figures, revealing underlying profit before tax had increased 15% to £193.6m for the year ending December 2018.