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Metro Bank PLC is a retail and commercial bank operating in the United Kingdom, founded by Anthony Thomson and Vernon Hill in 2010. At its launch it was the first new
high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
bank to launch in the United Kingdom in over 150 years. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...
. After a period of rapid growth, Metro Bank hit difficulties in early 2019 when it announced it had insufficient capital to meet regulatory requirements, following the discovery of an error in the way it categorised its commercial loans for
capital adequacy A capital requirement (also known as regulatory capital, capital adequacy or capital base) is the amount of capital a bank or other financial institution has to have as required by its financial regulator. This is usually expressed as a capital ...
purposes. As a result, it had to raise an additional £350m of capital. Concerns over the announcement and the bank's ability to raise the capital resulted in the bank's share price falling by 75% in less than four months, and large depositors withdrawing cash, because of "adverse sentiment".


History

Metro Bank was granted its licence by the
Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investments Board (SIB) in 1985 ...
on 5 March 2010, the first high-street bank to be granted such a licence for over 150 years. It planned to open between 200 and 250 branches in
Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
within ten years of starting up. Its first branch opened on 29 July 2010 in
Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...
, central London. In 2012, the bank raised an additional $200 million in funding from investors including
Fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of '' fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word , meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London financial m ...
,
Steven A. Cohen Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge-fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) since September 14, 2020, owning just over 97% of the team. He is the founder of hedge fund Point72 Asset Ma ...
of hedge fund
SAC Capital Advisors SAC Capital Advisors was a group of hedge funds founded by Steven A. Cohen in 1992. The firm employed approximately 800 people
, and New York real estate investors the LeFraks and David and Simon Reubens. In the same year, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' magazine reported that Metro's flagship Holborn branch had "...garnered $200 million in deposits, four times the total at the average mature American branch". On 2 May 2013 the ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'' reported that, following a loss of £8.8 million in the first quarter of 2013, Metro Bank's pre-tax losses had exceeded £100 million in less than three years since its launch, but the bank stated that these were planned for, and were "a result of its growth initiatives". In an interview with the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', Hill said the bank was "...in line with the business plan to rapidly grow this company". He added: "Our primary goal is to expand the business ... and profit certainly will come". Metro Bank acquired SME Finance in August 2013, and rebranded the business as Metro Bank SME Finance in May 2014. In January 2019, Metro Bank admitted classifying a portfolio of commercial loans for capital purposes incorrectly, thereby failing to hold sufficient capital to meet regulatory requirements; the error applied to around 10% of its loan book. The miscalculation was identified through a review by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) but Metro Bank erroneously gave the impression that the bank had identified the incorrect classification itself. To correct the error in the capital classification, Metro Bank announced a £350m share issue and said it would reduce its growth plans. It was also reported that the PRA and the
Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...
were to investigate the circumstances of the error. In December 2021, the bank was fined £5.38m by the PRA after their investigation, saying that it had "failed to meet the standards of governance and controls expected of it" with regards to the risk weighting and classification of commercial loans. As a result of the admission and the share issue announcement, Metro Bank's share price fell sharply, losing 40% of its value in the month after the announcement and 75% in less than four months. By March 2019, the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
reported that Metro Bank shares were the second most shorted shares on the UK stock market. Additionally, large depositors began withdrawing funds: Metro Bank admitted that there had been a 4% drop in its deposits in the first quarter of 2019 because of "adverse sentiment". It was announced in August 2020 that Metro Bank had agreed to acquire Retail Money Market Ltd, a London-based provider of peer-to-peer loans trading as
RateSetter RateSetter was founded in 2009 as one of the pioneers of peer-to-peer lending. The London-based company traded in the UK and, from 2014, in Australia. In 2020, the UK business was acquired by Metro Bank for a value of £35m, and the Australian ...
. The price would be between £2.5 million and £12 million, depending on performance over the next three years. The purchase was subject to regulatory approval and the agreement of Retail Money Market Ltd shareholders, and was expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2020. Metro Bank would continue the RateSetter brand and its operations, but new unsecured personal lending would be funded by the bank's deposits, not through peer-to-peer. In February 2021, Metro Bank bought RateSetter's entire portfolio of loans, valued at £384m. In February 2021, Metro Bank completed the £3.04 billion sale of a residential mortgage portfolio to
NatWest National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...
. The deal was agreed upon in December 2020. In November 2021, Metro Bank entered talks with the
Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...
concerning a possible takeover bid. On 6–8 October 2022, Metro Bank's mobile banking app failed, resulting in its customers being unable to manage their accounts remotely. In October 2023, it was revealed that
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
had considered a bid for Metro Bank before opting not to proceed due to the capital required by the bank. Metro was also claimed to have rejected an offer from fellow challenger bank Shawbrook. On 8 October 2023, Metro Bank secured a £325m capital raise alongside £600m of debt refinancing with
Jaime Gilinski Bacal Jaime Gilinski Bacal (born 14 December 1957) is a Panama-based Colombian banker, investor, and real estate developer. According to ''Forbes'', he is the second richest person in Colombia, with a net worth of US$10.7 billion as of 2025. Early li ...
, the second richest person in Colombia, becoming the controlling shareholder with around a 53% stake in the business. In November 2024, Metro Bank was fined £16.7 million by the Financial Conduct Authority for failing to ensure an automated system was correctly checking customer transactions for potential money laundering until four years after it was installed.


Services

Metro Bank provides banking services to personal and business customers. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the
Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...
and the Prudential Regulation Authority.


Management


Senior leadership

* ''Chairman'': Robert Sharpe (since November 2020) * ''Chief Executive'': Dan Frumkin (since February 2020)


Former chairmen

# Anthony Thomson (2010–2012) # Vernon Hill (2013–2019)


Former chief executives

# Craig Donaldson (2010–2019)


References


External links

* * {{UK banks 2019 establishments in the United Kingdom Banks based in the City of London Banks established in 2010 British companies established in 2010 Companies based in the London Borough of Camden Companies in the FTSE 250 Index David and Simon Reuben