Metro Bank targets Scotland

One of the UK’S new challenger banks has revealed that from next month it will expand its mortgage business into Scotland.

Metro Bank said yesterday that from 5 April it planned to grow both its direct mortgage business north of the Border via its seven-day-a-week mortgage helpline, and through brokers.

“With our research showing that over half of Scots would consider switching to another lender, I’m excited about entering the Scottish market,” Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank, said. The lender, which currently has no branches in Scotland, said research it had commissioned into the home loans market showed only one in five (21 per cent) of Scottish respondents believe lenders are doing enough to get people on the housing ladder.

“Additionally, when looking to buy a home, only 18 per cent of Scots would stick with their current bank, while over half (56 per cent) would shop around,” Metro Bank said.

The lender added that it was a top 20 mortgage lender, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and that its Scottish drive was part of a target to break into the top ten “over the next few years”.

It said that Scottish homeowners would benefit from the same ranges and rates offered to customers in England and Wales “as well as the bank’s no-hassle switching service”.

Neil Mcleod will be business development manager (BDM) for Scotland. Before joining Metro Bank in January, Mcleod spent more than three years as a BDM at Halifax.

He began his career at Bank of Scotland, where he spent five years in the retail and mortgage business.