By Lars Mucklejohn Clearbank has posted its first annual profit on the back of growth in fees, customers and deposits as its clients attracted business with competitive interest rates and sought security following high-profile bank failures last year. The fintech clearing bank reported a pretax profit of £18.4m last year, swinging from a £7.1m loss in 2022. It previously hit monthly profitability in November 2022. The UK’s first new purpose-built clearing bank in more than 250 years when it launched in 2017, more than 200 financial institutions use Clearbank’s technology to clear transactions …