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Metro Bank should not let recent failures alter its course

The upstart threatens traditional banks’ retail operations, writes Chris Blackhurst, and they do not appreciate it, not one little bit

Friday 01 March 2019 18:32 GMT
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Despite its troubles Metro Bank should keep offering the high street something different
Despite its troubles Metro Bank should keep offering the high street something different

You can almost hear the squeals of delight emanating from our established banks at the plight befalling Metro Bank, the industry high street disruptor.

Not that the banks would ever publicly admit to taking pleasure in the accounting error that has seen Metro disclose that hundreds of millions of pounds of commercial property loans had been wrongly classified in risk terms, a revelation that caused its shares to crash. At one stage they were down by 50 per cent. They’ve recovered a bit since, but the damage has been done.

Metro’s credibility was further undermined when it became apparent the bank had not spotted the mistake, as first claimed, but instead the regulator was responsible for highlighting the blunder.

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