The board of Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) has announced the results of the Capability and Innovation Fund Pool A grant process, with Metro Bank, Starling Bank and ClearBank sharing the £280 million pot.
Metro Bank has been awarded £120 million, with £100 million for Starling and £60 million for ClearBank.
The Capability and Innovation Fund is designed to promote competition in the market for banking services to SMEs in the UK through expansion of each successful applicant’s business capacity, product offering and/or target markets.
The three successful applicants will be invited to enter into a Capability and Innovation Fund Agreement with BCR.
Godfrey Cromwell, BCR’s chairman, said: “Following the successful launch of the Incentivised Switching Scheme by BCR last year, Pool A is the first group of grants from the Capability and Innovation Fund – further grants (Pools B, C and D) will be awarded later this year.”
BCR received a total of 16 applications from six applicants for the Pool A process during an application window between 1 November and 31 December 2018.
Charles McManus, group chief executive of ClearBank, said: “We are delighted that the BCR has recognised the strength of our partnership with Tide in awarding us this grant – we both have the ambition to revolutionise banking services provided to the SME market.”
Stuart Chalmers, head of UK commercial banking at Accenture, commented: “The high level of SMEs unwilling to switch places the onus on competitors to develop a distinct offering and effectively communicate the long-term benefits.
“With strong customer loyalty and unconvincing switching incentives, the RBS Remedies Package’s goal to disrupt the market looks currently unachievable.”
Latest News
Sanctions evasion in an era of conflict: Optimising KYC and monitoring to tackle crime
The ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia, and the continuing geopolitical tensions have resulted in an unprecedented increase in parties added to sanctions lists.
Achieving operational resilience in the financial sector: Navigating DORA with confidence
Operational resilience has become crucial for financial institutions navigating today's digital landscape riddled with cyber risks and challenges. The EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) provides a harmonised framework to address these complexities, but there are key factors that financial institutions must ensure they consider.
Legacy isn’t the enemy: what FSIs can do to keep their systems up and running
In this webinar we will examine some of the steps FSIs have already taken to rigorously monitor and test systems – both manually and with AI-powered automation – while satisfying the concerns of regulators and customers.
Optimising digital banking: Unifying communications for seamless CX
In the digital age, financial institutions risk falling behind their rivals if they fail to unite fragmented communications ecosystems to deliver seamless, personalised customer experiences.
This FStech webinar sponsored by Precisely explores vital strategies to optimise cross-channel messaging through omnichannel orchestration and real-time customer data access.
This FStech webinar sponsored by Precisely explores vital strategies to optimise cross-channel messaging through omnichannel orchestration and real-time customer data access.
© 2019 Perspective Publishing Privacy & Cookies
Recent Stories