Yahoo Finance Challenger Poaches Exec From Bank of England
One of a new wave of banks set up to challenge the hegemony of the UK's established high street lenders will announce this week that it has poached a senior executive from the Bank of England.
Sky News has learnt that Bank and Clients (B and C) has lured Nicole Coll, the chief financial accountant at the Bank of England since June 2013, to become its first chief of finance and operations.
The appointment, which will be announced on Tuesday, underlines the extent to which start-up banks are turning to regulators and central banks to fill their executive ranks as they seek senior staff with significant experience.
Prior to joining the Bank of England, Ms Coll held senior roles at Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) , the French banking group, and Marex Spectron, a broker-dealer.
B and C was set up recently by Ocean Capital, an investment firm, which paid £13m to acquire a banking licence held by Somerset-based Church House Trust.
Offering a range of mortgage and savings products, it had been relegated to a peripheral role at Virgin Money, which took ownership of it in 2009.
Ocean Capital provided loans to private and public companies across Europe and North America, and is led by two brothers, Edouard and Julien Bridel.
Under the B and C name, the bank now intends to strengthen its focus on business lending.
B and C's launch coincides with the stock market listings of two rival challenger banks, with shares in Aldermore and Shawbrook both performing strongly since making their stock market debuts in recent weeks.
A string of other start-up banks have begun to emerge in the years since the financial crash, including Metro Bank and OakNorth, which this week announced that Lord Turner, the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, would join its board.
Meanwhile, Lord McFall, the previous chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has joined Atom Bank, a digital-only venture, as a director.
Further measures to promote competition in banking were announced last month in George Osborne's final Budget before the General Election, with a particular focus on a new Midata tool to enable consumers to compare current accounts.
The Competition and Markets Authority is due to conclude an inquiry into the personal current accounts and SME banking markets later this year.
The perception that challenger banks will be assisted by Government policy whatever the outcome of May's election was one factor in the timing of the decisions by Aldermore and Shawbrook to proceed with their listings in the early part of this year.
A spokesman for B and C declined to comment on Ms Coll's appointment.
