Founded in 2010 by Anthony Thomas and Vernon Hill, Metro Bank plc was the first retail bank to open in the UK in over 150 years on the high-street. The group gained its license from the Financial Services Authority in 2010 and opened its first store in the same year in Holborn, London.

 

Metro Bank offers an alternative method of banking. Its stores are open every day of the week, 8am – 8pm and it has an estimated 15-minute window without an appointment, to open a new account and gain a debit card, the bank also has a pet friendly policy and an initiative for people who adopt pets from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

 

Just three years after opening, Metro Bank raised its customer base by 50%, reaching 200,000 accounts and 15,000 business accounts. In order to reach its target of owning up to 250 branches in the area of Greater London by 2020, the bank negotiated additional funding worth £200 million from a list of investors that included Steven A. Cohen, SAC Capital Investor Fidelity and two New York based real estate firms in David and Simon Reubens and LeFraks. This level of investment was quoted by Forbes Magazine as being 4 times the typical total at an average American banking branch. The Metro Bank IPO listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 with a £1.6 billion valuation. On its first day, the Metro Bank IPO stock was valued at £21.95.

 

Metro Bank is regulated by two bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority who also authorises its activities. In 2013, the company acquired SME finance and ultimately rebranded it as Metro Bank SME Finance in 2014. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the Index.