SAVERS were pulling money out of Metro Bank in fear of the bank’s safety ahead of a £325 million fund raiser in October.
The lender admitted today that there had been a “increase in deposit outflow rates” ahead of the deal, which also included a £600 million debt refinancing.
Those flows “have returned to more normal ranges” it said in a statement to the stock market.
In the third quarter assets fell by 1% to £21.6 billion. Deposits rose 1% to £15.6 billion.
Metro said: “The third quarter delivered continued momentum in Personal and Business Current Account growth and customer acquisition as well as a modest statutory profit after tax. Lending reflects continued controlled asset origination and as such capital resources were broadly flat relative to 30 June levels.”
The refinancing deal saw Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal seize a controlling 53% stake in the bank. He is said to be worth more than £4 billion. He owns a big banking empire in Latin America.
It ran into difficulty with an accounting scandal that saw it underreport how much capital it needed to hold against its liabilities.
Then CEO Craig Donaldson stepped down in December 2019. The bank was fined £10 million by the Financial Conduct Authority in 2022.
It has 2.8 million customer accounts. City talk had it that Metro would look to sell off some of its mortgages to perhaps Lloyds or NatWest.
Metro Bank shares rose 1.2p to 43.7p today, that leaves the stock market value at £75 million. The shares were once well over 2000p each.
