Metro Bank: We could float

The first new bank to open on Britain’s high streets in more than a century revealed yesterday that it is considering listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Metro Bank, best-known for its dog-friendly branches and coin-counting machines, said it may float in order to boost ambitious expansion plans, although it could just tap existing investors for more funds. Its chief executive Craig Donaldson said: “It’s something we are looking at to drive more growth but we are taking a long-term, organic approach and will do so when the time is right.”

The bank, which is expected to remain loss-making until next year, said the rate at which customers are switching to its accounts has doubled since new hassle-free rules were introduced last month. It also said it had a 100 per cent uplift in new joiners over the past four weeks. So far 89,000 current account customers across the UK have moved to new banks since the time it takes to switch was cut from up to 30 working days to seven.

Metro now has 20 branches in and around London and plans to open in Kingston upon Thames on Friday. Its customer numbers have grown by 75 per cent to 238,000 since the start of the year, with total lending at £565m and deposits just under £1.1bn.