Finance house PCF Group has been authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to start deposit-taking operations as a full-fledged bank.
The company said that it will currently offer one-year savings proposition with interest rates of 1.7%, and plans to introduce more deposit products online in the “very near future”. Users can open an account in around 10 minutes, PCF claims.
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The firm’s transition from a finance house to a bank comes following the completion of a three-year project.
PCF CEO Scott Maybury said: “The potential upside is considerable, as we currently have a relatively small market share and will now be able to access cheaper funding and lend into more prime segments of the market. Our organic growth proves that the model works, and the launch of PCF Bank will allow us to accelerate that growth over the next 3-5 years.”
In addition, PCF also unveiled plans to expand its addressable lending market portfolio to £350m in three years and to £750m in five years.
“PCF Bank’s access to retail deposits will allow us to provide our broker network with an even wider and more competitive range of rates, and along with our new business initiatives, will ensure that when those deposits come in we are able to deploy that capital quickly and efficiently,” Maybury added.
