Vernon Hill - Metro Bank

Metro Bank

Metro Bank UK was launched in London July 2010, with Hill as co-founder and vice-chairman and co-founder Anthony Thomson as Chairman.

Press commentary at the time centred on Metro being the first high-street bank to open in the United Kingdom for more than 100 years, and upon Hill's belief that the competitive landscape of British banking amounted to a commercial opportunity to lead on service rather than price. In 2010, 85% of the UK market for current accounts was held by the “big five” banking institutions (HSBC, Barclay's, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Lloyd's). In 2008 an official report from the Office of Fair Trading concluded that UK banking was subject to weak competitive pressures and profit-maximising strategies. Forbes Magazine described Metro at launch as "...aiming to disrupt a storied industry dominated by a handful of established players".

In an April 2011 speech to the Financial Services Club in London, Hill commented on market research into approval ratings for UK banks, in particular the finding that Lloyds TSB and Barclay's banks had negative net promoter scores overall:

"If I was Lloyds or Barclays, I would climb under the table seeing these numbers. I've never seen negative net promoter numbers before in my life. I don't even know how you can get negative net promoter numbers. What are you doing?"

In a BBC News interview, Thomson commented that the cost–driven model of traditional British banks required them to discourage customers from visiting branches, whereas Metro Bank’s model actively sought to attract customers into branches, using tactics such as longer opening hours and pet-friendly policies.

The pair spent a further two years securing a £75m launch investment, including funds from New York real estate developer Richard LeFrak, property investors the Reuben brothers and Fidelity, the fund management company. Metro launched with plans to open 200 branches in London by 2020. Twelve branches were opened by December 2010. In June 2012 the company announced the completion of a £126m round of capital-raising to open further branches in London, including funds from Moore Capital and billionaire investor Steve Cohen.

Noted investor Wilbur Ross commented that "The question is whether promotional flair and service concept will produce enough customers to offset the extra operational cost of providing the extra space".