A Swedish bank with operations in Bradford and Ilkley achieved strong results last year.

In the year to December 31 2011 the 140-year-old Handelsbanken revealed a 31 per cent increase in lending to UK individual and corporate customers, taking total UK lending to just over £8.5 billion.

Customer deposits increased by 44 per cent. Profit after tax for total operations increased by 12 per cent to £1,184 million.Operating profit for continuing operations also rose by 12 per cent to £1,59 million.

Handelsbanken was recently rated by financial information provider Bloomberg as the world’s second strongest bank.

The bank’s Bradford branch, which has six staff led by manager Mark Rawnsley based at the Lighthouse Group charity HQ near the M606, is one of 119 UK branches stretching from Perth in Scotland to Portsmouth. In 2011 Handelsbanken opened 21 new branches, including Ilkley. Worldwide, Handels-banken has 750 branches in 22 countries, employing more than 11,000 staff.

In a survey of British banks’ personal and business customers Handelsbanken was recently rated top for customer satisfaction and loyalty for the third year running.

Anders Bouvin, Handels-banken’s UK chief executive, said: “We are building a British bank for the long term, and our success rests squarely on developing strong and lasting customer relationships.”

He said the group’s financial results reaffirmed the bank’s strong capital and liquidity positions and its low credit loss ratios which had helped earn Handelsbanken amongst the highest credit ratings of any international bank.