The founder of North East challenger bank Atom Bank and high street name Metro Bank has announced plans to launch his fourth bank.
Anthony Thomson – who founded Durham-based digital bank Atom in 2014 before stepping down in 2018 – plans to raise £100m in an initial fundraise for the fresh venture, a global bank aimed at family offices and ultra high net worth individuals. He says early interest “has been extraordinary”.
Mr Thomson, now 71, is planning to launch the new bank – Family Offices Bank – in 2026, with an executive team which will include former Virgin Money and TSB boss Paul Pester, former Barclays executive Samantha Bamert and Stuart Grimshaw, a former executive at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The head office for the bank has yet to be finalised, with Jersey, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates all on the shortlist while Mr Thomson speaks to authorities in each of the jurisdictions.
The former Atom chairman, who grew up in Heaton, Newcastle, and studied at Gosforth Grammar School and Bede Grammar School, co-founded Metro in 2010 before later setting up Atom as the Ƶ’s first ever digital only bank, establishing its headquarters in Aykley Heads. He announced his resignation as chairman in 2018 after revealing that he had co-authored a book called No Small Change and was setting out to tour the world to promote it.
Soon after, he co-founded and chaired Bank 86 400 in Australia.
Mr Thomson now says the new bank is “built for a new era”, and announced on social media how the idea for the Family Offices Bank arose from 18 months of discussions with family offices, who told him how their needs have evolved but their banks haven’t.
In the post, he said: “After founding and chairing Metro Bank and Atom Bank in the Ƶ and 86 400 in Australia, I said I wouldn’t do another bank. But this idea wouldn’t let go.
“Over the past 18 months, I’ve spoken with family offices around the world. The message was loud and clear: their needs have evolved but their banks haven’t.
“Too many family offices and UHNWIs (Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals) are oversold, underserved, misunderstood, or treated like an afterthought. So we’re building something different.
“The Family Offices Bank is designed to meet the needs of family offices and their family members. The reason we think there’s a need for the Family Offices Bank is because the service that family offices get from their existing banks is not very good. We think we can use technology to give a better product, a better service, a better experience to family offices and their family members.”
