OneSavings Bank, the owner of the Kent Reliance brand, reported an increase in its loan book in the first nine months of the year.

The lender grew loans and advances by £986 million to £4.9 billion over the period, which it put down to organically increasing its customer base.

It said it expects its growth for the year to be ahead of the 29% it achived in 2014.

The challenger bank, based in Chatham, offers residential and buy-to-let mortgages plus loans to small and medium sized businesses.

It said its cost to income ratio “remains very strong” and is expected to be slightly higher over the course of the year than the 26% in the first six months of 2015.

Chief executive Andy Golding said: “I am very pleased with our 2015 performance to date.

“We received record levels of new business applications during the third quarter and remain confident in delivering on all of our stated financial objectives through to the end of 2016.”