Metro Bank announces £925m funding package

Metro Bank is launching a fresh cost-cutting drive after the lender clinched a £925 million rescue package from investors over the weekend.

The high street lender said it was aiming to slash about £30 million of costs a year from 2025 as part of the deal, which avoided a potential breakup or takeover by a rival UK bank.

The London-listed challenger bank plans to slash around £30 million of costs per year from 2025. Concerns have been raised that the bank’s 76 branches across the UK could be at risk, 

Daniel Frumkin, Chief Executive Officer at Metro Bank, said “Today’s announcement marks a new chapter for Metro Bank, facilitating the delivery of continued profitable growth over the coming years. Metro Bank made a statutory profit after tax in Q3 2023, and continues to demonstrate ongoing momentum as we strive towards our ambition to be the UK’s number one community bank. Our strong franchise is underpinned by our loyal customer base and engaged colleagues and we will continue to develop the Metro Bank offer to provide the digital and physical banking services our customers expect. We thank our shareholders and noteholders for their continuing support of Metro Bank and our customers.”

Jaime Gilinski Bacal, founder of Spaldy Investments Limited, said “I have been an active investor in Metro Bank since 2019. The opportunity to become the Bank’s major shareholder is driven by my belief in the need for physical and digital banking underpinned by a focus on exceptional customer service. I believe that the package announced today enables the Bank to pursue growth and build on the foundational work undertaken over the past three years.”