The SoftBank-backed bank has pushed backed its net zero target by ten years to 2045.
OakNorth, the UK challenger lending bank, has reported a nudge up in year-on-year pre-tax profits in 2025 from £215m to £223m, helped by US growth.
The SoftBank-backed bank, however, delayed its net zero target by ten years. OakNorth said it now hopes to reach its net zero target in 2045, not 2035, as it set out in 2022.
It cites moving into new geographies, changing regulatory expectations, and changes to green targets by its suppliers as some of the reasons for the delay. It said the new net zero target would ensure its actions “remain realistic and accountable”. The disclosure was first revealed by CityAM.
OakNorth makes money by providing loans to small businesses in the “lower mid-market”.
In 2025, OakNorth, valued at around $2.8bn in a 2019 funding round, extended £1.7bn of new loan facilities in the UK, with half supporting commercial firms. In the US, a market it entered in 2023, new loan facilities hit $1.4bn, more than tripling from $0.4bn in 2024, it said.
Last year, OakNorth made its first US acquisition, a Michigan-based bank which serves retail and business customers.
Rishi Khosla, co-founder and CEO, OakNorth, said: “The fact that 40% of our originations now come from the US, demonstrates that this model is transferable and competitive in one of the world’s largest lending markets.
“With significant runway for growth across the UK and US, we’re primed to make our next decade even more impactful than our first.”