The first bank focused on a mobile app to gain a license.
Raif Karerat
Atom Bank, a mobile-only challenger bank, just received a license from the Bank of England that will allow it to operate in the U.K.
The non-traditional bank, which plans to launch later this year, will distinguish itself from a host of other financial institutions available for consumers in England by operating sans any physical locations.
The branchless bank, founded by Anthony Thomson, who created Metro Bank, and Mark Mullen, former chief executive of First Direct, will offer services via mobile, internet, and eventually wearable devices, according to the Financial Times.
While other online brands have launched in the U.K. — such as Egg, Smile and Cahoot — regulators said Atom was the first bank focused on a mobile app to gain a license.
“We’ve set about designing a banking app that’s in tune with how people think about their money,” Mullen told Business Insider. “Taking an app-based approach allows us to use all the features of your mobile device to provide a slick and highly personalized experience. It will offer total control and transparency with a depth that is beyond anything else on offer in the market today.”
Atom said it would provide a customer service team available via phone, email, and social media on a daily basis, and users will also be able to pay in cash and checks through a partnership with an established high street bank.
“Attitudes to banking are changing much quicker than any of us could have expected. There’s a whole generation of people for whom apps are the internet,” Mullen mused while chatting with Business Insider, with one eye clearly on the future.
“In four or five years’ time, we want to have five percent of the market,” Thomson informed The Telegraph. “We think we are the first real alternative to the high street banks – we have no branches, no legacy costs, no legacy IT systems or legacy balance sheet.”