Heat on Metro founder

VeRnon Hill has come under renewed pressure to step down as chairman of Metro Bank days after facing angry shareholders at the lender’s annual meeting.

Royal london Asset Management, with a 0.4pc stake in Metro worth around £3m, wants the high street bank to appoint an independent chairman who can shake up its board. Metro has seen shares tumble since the Bank of england uncovered an accounting error in January, leading to calls for Hill and chief executive craig Donaldson to step down.

it has also been lambasted for giving £25m worth of work to interarch, the architecture firm owned by Hill’s wife, a contract the lender agreed to scrap this week.