FCA in talks with 21 new banks
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that it is in talks with a total of 21 firms currently applying for authorisation to become a bank.
Speaking at the regional banking conference, the FCA's banking authorities manager Nicola Wildman said that the financial regulator had significantly changed their bank authorisation process. She also explained that the 21 firms are in the "pre-application" stage before making an application to become a bank.
Metro Bank founder Anthony Thomson says that it is possible to get authorised in nine months, although it took Metro Bank 20 months to get registered. This was partly due to capital requirement and infrastructure issues.
November 8, 2013