Howard Flight, Ben Gunn and Keith Carby to join Metro Bank
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Former chief executive of Openwork Keith Carby, former Conservative Party deputy chairman Howard Flight (pictured) and former Friends Provident chief executive Ben Gunn are amongst the latest appointments to the board of new UK bank Metro Bank.
Source: Michael Walter/Troika
According to the Telegraph, the new bank, created by US financial entrepreneur Vernon Hill, has also appointed former Mastercard chief executive Gene Lockhart and former Nationwide retail director Stuart Bernau to the board. All the appointments will be non-executive directors.
The report says they will join former Financial Services Forum chairman Anthony Thomson, who will chair the Metro Bank board, as well as former RBS managing director Craig Donaldson, who will be chief executive of the bank.
In an interview with the paper, Hill and Thomson revealed that Metro bank might float by its third year of trading.
The bank will begin trading with two central London branches in Holborn and Earls Court in April. Hill said depending on the success of the banks Metro Bank may look to increase the £75m already raised from institutional investment.
In an interview with the paper, the bank says it will “put an end to the stupid rules” by opening from 8am to 8pm, and will only close on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday, ignoring bank holidays. It will also offer customer toilets and will offer a 24-hour helpline to customers. Hill says the bank will also offer customers the chance to open up a bank account in 15 minutes.
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Readers' comments (8)
A flushing success | 22 Feb 2010 2:52 pm
I am delighted to hear that Keith Carby's press release has prioritised the problems of human waste by installing toilets as his USP for Metro Bank.
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Paul Thompson | 22 Feb 2010 3:52 pm
Well, that makes a change from Banks cr*pping on their customers...
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Bob | 22 Feb 2010 6:52 pm
Are they going to have security to prevent any old passer by from having a dump?
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Anonymous | 23 Feb 2010 10:40 am
Long hours......toilets........it's the JD Wetherspoons of banks. Every p*sspot in London will be heading there right now.
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Sarah | 23 Feb 2010 8:58 pm
Pity the poor employee who gets the 'job' of hovering around vetting the toilet users.
What happens when they say, 'well..I'm thinking of opening an account, but need to use the toilet first'?
Badly thought through.
I'll give the bogs six months, before they get dumped themselves!.
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Anonymous | 24 Feb 2010 1:38 pm
Toilet humor!
lets give these guys a chance....I mean opening Saturdays and Sundays in central London is money well spent...and with all their individual success the board meetings should be fun.
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Anonymous | 26 Feb 2010 1:27 am
Give these guys a chance, how can Mr. Carbys CV show any form of success. He has always run from a sinking ship and now he showcases a new bank ..... by installing toilets. I can see the whole operation being given a high profile "flush".
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Au79 | 20 Jan 2011 11:27 am
Its about time that the banking system was stirred up with a bit of competition from a new, technology savvy, entrance to the market. Metro, without any existing legacy systems or onerous processes can hit the ground running with much better and more efficient services. Much in the same way that www.GoldMadeSimple.com reinvented the gold bullion market or www.egg.com the banking system with its online model. And with confidence in the old school banking system at an all time low, there could be no better time.
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