Further growth expected from Metro Bank amid talk of IPO
Metro Bank is expected to reveal its results by the end of this month, as it gears up towards a flotation expected to take place next year.
Although whether Metro will finally unveil a profit is unclear, the results are forecast to show that the challenger bank is continuing to grow nicely. If so, it will mark the fifth year of growth for the new bank, which was founded by charismatic American businessman Vernon Hill in 2010.
However, Metro will no doubt be feeling the blow of George Osborne’s new eight per cent banking surcharge, which was announced in the emergency budget earlier this month and will be implemented in January 2016.
Many of the challenger banks are exempt from bank levy charges, which the chancellor lowered in the emergency budget. But the new surcharge applies to all banking institutions making more than £25m a year, bringing many of the newer, smaller banks into charge.