One of the perks of this job is meeting world class executives such as Dave McKay (CEO of Royal Bank of Canada, next week when he is in London) and Vernon Hill (founder and chairman of Metro Bank) the other day.
It feels more like being granted an audience to spend time with Mr Hill. It is certainly fair to say that no other banker starts a meeting with ‘say hello to the most important person in the store’ to be greeted with the energetic and vocal Hill family dog.
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It would be fair to say that Metro Bank is on target to report a steller set of results for the full fiscal.
One or two interesting stats do however jump out.
Business lending: loans to business customers make up a far higher percentage of the loan book than I would have forecast when Vernon founded Metro Bank and now account for almost half of all lending in the three months to end September.
Business deposits (60% of total deposits at the end of the quarter) will be even more of a surprise to many and arguably one Metro Bank stat that the business press in the UK has been slow to recognise.
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By GlobalDataMetro Bank’s digital innovation is another pleasant surprise. Metro Bank was among the laggards in rolling out a mobile banking app – it launched only in the last quarter – but in a number of areas it is class leading.
For example if a Metro Bank customer misplaces their debit card the mobile app allows the customer to block the card; if the card is later found, the card can be unblocked via the app.
Simple but a useful tool to offer. The Metro Bank app also offers the user friendly log in feature of only a four digit PIN to access; Lloyds and TSB among others, for whom accessing their basic almost antique web based tortuous log in could perhaps take note.
While it is early days since the app launched, CEO Craig Donaldson told the writer with evident pride that those engaging with the bank via the app are already doing so at a rate similar to more established apps offered by Metro rivals.
If there is one area Metro Bank is behind its initial launch targets – the original goal was admittedly hugely ambitious – the target of 200 branches by 2020 will be missed but it is on track to hit 130-140 stores in the next six years.
Stores numbers 28 to 31 will open later this year in Wood Green, St Albans, Basildon and Orpington; openings in 2015 include the writer’s adopted home town of Southend, Brighton and Cambridge, all some distance outside the M25.
Try as I might try to persuade Mr Hill that the North of England or even Scotland might offer possible future areas for future growth, the bank is unlikely to stray too far outside of the comfort zone of London commuter territory.
Current day comparisons between the Metro Bank of today and the phenomenal success story that was Hill’s CommerceBank are eye-catching. One stat will suffice: Metro Bank is acheicing a higher level of deposits over a three year period than CommerceBank by 70%.
One sets of stats is however no surprise: Net Promoter Score figures for Metro Bank are a shade under 80%, a cool 16% ahead of second placed First Direct and more than double third-ranked Nationwide.
That does not come about by accident. It will be more of a story if and when Metro Bank is not out on its own by that measure.
