Metro Bank shares jumped on Wednesday 4 November 2026 after the challenger bank published a third-quarter trading update showing strong growth in its target lending and a wider net interest margin. Alliance News reported that the shares rose 13% to 172.60p in morning trading in London.

The bank said gross loans and advances to customers rose 4.9% year on year to £9.43 billion in the third quarter, up from £8.99 billion a year earlier. Lending to its target segments — corporate, commercial and small-business customers and specialist mortgages — jumped 37% to £6.62 billion.

Metro Bank's exit net interest margin, the gap between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits, widened by 42 basis points year on year to 3.45%. That is already inside the bank's full-year guidance range of 3.4% to 4.0%, and the lender said it sees a clear path to further margin gains in the final quarter of 2026 and into 2027 as fixed-rate treasury assets mature and can be reinvested at higher rates.

The bank reaffirmed all of its guidance, including a return on tangible equity of more than 13% in the fourth quarter of 2026, above 15% in 2027 and exceeding 18% in 2028. Chief executive Daniel Frumkin said: "We enter the final quarter of the year with confidence and clear momentum and reaffirm all guidance." The bank also said credit quality remains strong.

Analysts noted the margin outlook stands out against the wider UK banking sector. RBC Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Toms said Metro Bank's forecast margin expansion in 2027 runs against the recent trend seen at other UK banks, where margins have been under pressure.