Metro Bank among SME grant winners, CYBG misses out
Metro Bank has been awarded £120m from the fund set up with cash from Royal Bank of Scotland designed to boost competition in the business banking market, with Starling Bank getting £100m and ClearBank £60m.
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CYBG was one of 13 applicants that had missed out on the Pool A portion of £425m cash from the Capability and Innovation Fund being distributed by Banking Competition Remedies, an independent body set up with cash RBS was forced to pay as part of the conditions attached to its 2008 government bailout.
Other unsuccessful claimants for this fund included Arbuthnot, Co-op Bank, Handelsbanken, Monzo and TSB, though they are all still able to participate in the Incentivised Switching Scheme that goes live next Monday, with customers of former RBS subsidiary Williams & Glyn being encourages to switch their business current accounts to ‘challenger’ banks.
Metro said the funds will allow it to "radically transform" the UK SME banking experience with new "game-changing digital capabilities" and branch openings in "underserved SME hotspots in the North", namely Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, and Liverpool.
After missing out, CYBG said it was focused on competing "at scale" in the Incentivised Switching Scheme. "CYBG will compete strongly in the Incentivised Switching Scheme and intends to offer an attractive home to former Williams & Glyn SME customers being encouraged to leave RBS.
Pools B of BCR's Capability and Innovation Fund are set aside to help with the modernisation of existing business current accounts or the development of new business current accounts or related SME products propositions for SMEs in the UK, with the application window closing on 29 March. Pool C focuses on the expansion of business offerings to include, lending or payments services to SMEs and Pool D on the commercialisation of financial technology relevant to SMEs, with both still open for applications.