July 22 (Reuters) - Britain's Arbuthnot Banking Group posted a nearly five-fold rise in first-half pretaxprofit as its Secure Trust Bank unit continued toexpand its rapidly growing customer base.
Arbuthnot, which has its roots in 181-year-old private bankand wealth manager Arbuthnot Latham, said net interest incomerose to 41.1 million pounds ($70.2 million) in the six monthsended June 30, from 30.1 million pounds a year earlier.
Pretax profit rose to 9.5 million pounds for the period, upfrom the 2 million pounds reported a year earlier. ($1 = 0.5855 British Pounds) (Reporting by Richa Naidu and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore;Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
Arbuthnot (ARBB)