One of the country’s leading specialist lenders to buy-to-let property investors has said it will accelerate its plans to become a mainstream bank as part of a reorganisation of its business aimed at diversifying away from home lending. The Paragon Group of Companies said it would henceforth be known as Paragon Banking Group, as it transferred all its staff to a new holding company three years after gaining permission from the Bank of England to open a deposit-taking arm. Paragon said in a statement that all of its lending and operating business together with the greater part of its loan portfolio had been moved over to Paragon Bank as it looked to become a business largely funded by retail deposits. Since opening to retail customers…

Source: The Times September 21, 2017 16:07 UTC