Starling Bank is in the process of moving from “challenger” bank to a major, mainstream player in the 21st Century’s banking sector. Our friends at Altfi chronicle the latest impressive moves from this quarter: Starling Bank has raised £130.5m from its existing investor base, as it looks to build a “war chest” for acquisitions. The challenger bank […]
There’s outright criminal, unlawful, dodgy and – on the far side of the border of what’s OK – there’s illicit. We’re pleased to see, thanks to a report from our friends at Crowdfundinsider, that a recent report published by the top UK financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that there’s nothing profoundly illicit going […]
While the mainstream banks look to be – ay long last – pulling out of their decline, the challenger banks continue to challenge very successfully. The latest news comes from our friends at AltFi. Digital challenger Starling Bank maintained its hold in the final quarter of last year as one of the most switched-to UK banks of […]
One way of challenging banking norms – an increasingly popular activity nowadays – is to offer cashback. Assuming cash remains popular, which is probable in the short term, this new development, reported by our friends at Crowdfundinsider, could have quite a radical effect across the alternative-finance sector: Upside Saving, a UK-based open-banking-marketing-platform connects Brands with […]
One of the ways in which the alternative-finance sector is converging with the mainstream is the pursuit of banking licences by new, challenger banks. The Times carries a tale of a new would-be bank that has its sights set on a wealthy client base. A former chief executive of the Co-operative Bank, has become chairman […]
The Fintech Times runs an opinion piece on the future of challenger banking. We run an excerpt from the piece below. Regular readers will know that our own view is that more and more “alternative” lenders and lending platforms will either acquire banking licences or be acquired by banks. This is one of the more […]
The FinTech Times comes up with what must be, even on a Monda, winner of the dodgy metaphor of the week award. It runs an article on challenger banks, seen by the writer as the eternal “mistresses” of finance. There’s useful information here, nevertheless. We run an excerpt below, with the full article available here. […]
Today we bring news from a different area of alternative finance – the “challenger bank” area, as opposed to our own peer-to-peer (P2P) part of the world. Revolut has produced new figures – as is to be expected from a young business, the new bank reveals more growth, greater losses. AltFi reports. Revenues more than […]
It’s not just us, you know. Trade journal, paymnts.com, is sharply critical of the new banks challenging the financial establishment: ” The U.K. is dominated by the so-called Big Five mainstream banks: Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Santander UK and HSBC. With their decline in SME lending following the financial crisis, the U.K. saw […]