No egg on Prudential's face

Egg, the Internet bank launched by Prudential, today said it had added nearly a quarter-of-a-million customers in the last quarter, and was on track to break even at the end of this year.

The group, which was floated as a separate company last summer, said customer numbers in the three months to March 31 rose 223,649, to a total of 1.58m.

However, Egg also showed pre-tax losses for the same period stacked up to £37.9m, against a loss in the first quarter last year of £38.3m.

The group added it was on track to break even during the fourth quarter of this year.

Paul Gratton, chief executive said: ‘‘We are pleased with the strong start we have made to the year. The acceleration in our customer growth in an increasingly competitive environment is particularly encouraging.

‘‘Egg is proving attractive to a market that is becoming comfortable with using technology to manage its financial affairs.’’