With the surge of service outages from large banks, challengers such as Metro and Virgin Money – some offering more appealing rates of interest and few weighed down with the same unwieldy and dated IT – are providing the British public with compelling alternatives to larger counterparts.
Marcus Weston spoke to Real Business about how he went from high-flying investment banker to a Kabbalah teacher helping entrepreneurs find a different way to do business.
By David Craik
Alternative finance is an increasingly important means for small companies to get ahead and there has been some encouraging news from three of the challenger banks this week.
When Metro Bank became the first new high street bank in 100 years in 2010, it reflected that an arguably stagnant sector was getting a much-needed wake up call. More and more names have since entered the industry, but which are succeeding and what’s on the horizon for the newcomers
Banking startup Mondo has confirmed its first funding round with Passion Capital investing £2m. It’s planning ahead and aims to offer a full current account in the first half of 2016.
As the fintech market continues to surge, mobile apps have become the number one method for consumers to manage finances, a report from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has found.
Everline Future 50 entrant Shopwave provides the UK’s only retail management system that allows an iPad to become the core of automated retail business. With the mobile trend in full gear, it’s easy to see why enabling a seamless consumer experience from all devices set the company on a disruptive path.
Declaring it a UK first, Barclays has revealed plans to let individuals make payments to each other and small businesses via Twitter handles and its Pingit banking app.
