Metro Bank gains customers from new switching rules

LONDON (Reuters) - New British lender Metro Bank said it had seen a doubling in the number of customers switching to it from rivals since new rules designed to make it easier to change banks were introduced last month.

Metro Bank, which launched in 2010 as Britain's first new high street lender for more than a century, said customer account numbers had grown to 238,000, an increase of 75 percent since the start of the year.

Since the new rules were introduced on September 16, switching rates had doubled from the previous quarterly average, it said.

The bank said new rules which make banks guarantee customers can complete the process of switching banks within seven working days, had had an "extremely positive" impact.

Earlier on Tuesday, Britain's Payments Council said new rules making it easier to switch banks have resulted in an 11 percent rise in customers moving accounts since their introduction last month.

Metro Bank said total deposits grew to 1.075 billion pounds, up 24 percent in the third quarter while total loans grew to 565 million pounds, up 54 percent.

However, the bank made an operating loss of 11.5 million pounds, which it said was a result of substantial investment in staff and facilities and growth initiatives.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham, editing by Clare Hutchison)