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* IPO expected in first half of next year
* Founder expects bank to make first profit next year
* Expects businesses to account for 60 pct of lending (Adds comments from chairman and founder Hill)
By Matt Scuffham
LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - New British lender Metro Bankexpects to make its first profit next year, supporting a plannedlisting on the London Stock Exchange, its founder and ChairmanVernon Hill told Reuters.
Metro Bank opened in 2010 as Britain's first new retail bankfor more than a century and has grown its deposit base andlending at a rapid rate. However, its investment in new branchesand infrastructure has meant it has yet to make a profit.
"We expect to make a profit next year and our plan is to doan IPO (initial public offering) on the London exchange nextyear. We're not ready to commit to an exact date but I certainlyexpect it to happen in the first half of next year," Hill said.
Founded by U.S. entrepreneur Hill, the bank has been citedby some lawmakers as an alternative to Britain's 'big four'lenders - Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC.
British lawmakers and regulators want to stimulatecompetition within the industry and the country's competitionwatchdog is investigating banking services for small businessesand individuals.
Metro Bank reported a loss of 8 million pounds ($12.5million) in the second quarter of 2015 but said its totallending had passed 2 billion pounds for the first time whiledeposits had nearly doubled to 3.8 billion pounds.
"Our brand has got tremendous acceptance already. Even moresurprising is that the commercial side of the business isslightly larger than our consumer side. There is very strongdemand in all areas of commercial banking," Hill said.
Hill said more than half the bank's lending was now beingmade to businesses and he expected that to rise to about 60percent in the long term.
($1 = 0.6405 pounds)
(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Steve Slater and PravinChar)
