A new UK-wide business and retail bank has submitted its banking licence to the FCA and PRA
In a statement released today, the soon-to-launch challenger bank, CivilisedBank is currently focusing on meeting its regulatory capital requirements and on developing its technology and operations platform ahead of launch early next year.
CivilisedBank will not have branches but will operate through a network of Local Bankers backed by a technology platform being deployed for the first time in the UK. The branchless local banker network will capitalise on building one-to-one relationships with customers without the traditional costs associated with high street banks.
The bank’s target customers are owner-managers of small and medium-sized UK businesses through businesses current accounts with deposits, transaction banking, overdrafts, foreign currency exchange, investments, savings and loans. It will also address the retail market with specific savings and investment products.
Led by a team with a track record at Santander, Handelsbanken, HSBC, Société Générale, Lloyds, and Bank of Scotland, CivilisedBank will include the only person to have built and launched two new UK banks and a credit union.
The management team includes Christopher Jolly (Chairman), Gordon Dow (Chief Executive Officer), Hazel Hellier (Chief Business Development Officer) and Fiona Archbold (Project Manager), and Mike O’Connor as Chief Strategy Officer, who joins the team from a career in alternative asset management.
According to Chris Jolly, Chairman, CivilisedBank, the SME community is heavily underserved by the incumbent banks. “We will bring back the best of banking: one-to-one relationship banking for business customers, enabled by the latest banking technology,” he said.
Chart CivilisedBank’s journey in this video.
