Worldpay founder unveils UK’s first clearing bank in 250 years
(1 March 2017 – United Kingdom) Worldpay founder Nick Ogden has launched ClearBank, the first new UK agency and clearing bank to be created in over 250 years.
At a press conference in London attended by UK Government ministers, Ogden said that ClearBank is regulated and authorised and is on track to open its doors in later this year to financial services providers, FCA-regulated businesses and fintech startups that require access to UK payment systems and core banking technology to support current account capabilities. The banking-as-a-service startup will not be open to the public.
Built on a combination of public and private cloud infrastructure using Microsoft Azure, ClearBank will launch with a purpose-built, integrated core banking technology system, and API developed in accordance with ISO 20022 to support easier connections.
The institution has secured an investment of £25 million (A$40.6 million) from PPF Group and CFFI Ventures in addition to investments from the founding management team, which include executive chairman Ogden, CEO Charles McManus, CFO Mark Jenkins, chief risk officer Steve Barry, CTO Andrew Smith and chief governance officer Philip House.
Ogden is touting the benefits of ClearBank's technology platform as a key differentiator for the bank.
"ClearBank was built specifically to create competition and aims to change the market dynamics radically," he said.
"Figures from the Cruickshank Report indicate that, with the improved efficiency delivered by ClearBank’s built-for-purpose technology, between £2 and £3 billion could be saved from the annual costs that are paid for transactional banking in the UK."
He added that ClearBank will spend the next six months stress-testing its proposition with an e-money institution, a challenger bank and a building society onboard.
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