STB disclosed in its pre-close trading update that loan growth is strong and ahead of our forecasts. STB said that it saw a record level of new business lending in Q421 at £471.1m (+52% year-on-year). The core loan balances were up ‘by double digits’ year-on-year versus FY20, compared to our forecasts of 6% (core loans) and 2% (total loans). There were no new statements regarding margins or asset quality, although the news regarding the latter was quite upbeat in the Q3 update. We take note of the positives in this statement and will wait for the release of the full set of results on 24 March to update our model and estimates.