Durham-based Atom bank, the UK’s first app based bank, is hoping to raise up to £150 million to fund expansion ahead of a stock market listing as early as next year.

According to a Bloomberg report, Atom bank CEO Mark Mullen has confirmed Atom has been engaged in discussions with investment bank Jefferies as principal advisers with a view to raising more than £100 million but less than £200 million to “grow sustainably.”

Mullen said he sees “huge scope for growth” in UK mortgages and business loans.

“We’ve got to make sure that we get the right balance between the sustainability of the customer and the sustainability of the company,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Last month, Sky News and others reported that Atom Bank was seeking £150 million.

Mullen said the bank has more than doubled its deposits since its 2021-22 financial year to £6.5 billion.

He said the bank had issued about £5 billion of loans, with around £4 billion of this in mortgages.

Atom recently made its switch to a four-day working week permanent after a “transformative” trial year.

“Our people like it, they value it,” said Mullen.

“It’s a differentiator because it’s still quite rare and it’s just become the normal way of running the company.”

Mullen told Bloomberg he is not writing off the London Stock Exchange as the place to list Atom’s shares.

He said: “We’re a UK business. Our customers are in the UK. We have no plans at the moment to expand beyond UK border … So our default position would be that we would look for a listing in the UK.”

The company is preparing for an IPO as early as the second half of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025, he said.