Edinburgh-based Sainsbury’s Bank said its total income rose 5% to £274 million and underlying operating profit increased 4.8% to £65 million in the past year.

The bank said it will launch new mortgage products in 2017.  

“We performed strongly in the competitive personal loans market, with 15 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of advances to new customers,” said Sainsbury’s.

“The bank’s portfolio of insurance products continued to perform well, resulting in new business growth of over ten per cent year-on-year.  

“This year we saw a particularly strong performance in home insurance where sales of new policies increased by more than 25 per cent year-on-year.”

Sainsbury’s Bank said total accounts held by customers now stand at nearly 1.7 million.  

But Sainsbury’s warned: “In 2016/17, Sainsbury’s expects bank operating profit to be around ten per cent lower year-on-year due to investment required to enter the mortgage market and the impact of reduced interchange fees.”