Entwhistle looks to raise £75m to launch new UK bank Scoban
British financier Ray Entwistle is hoping to raise £75m to get his new private bank, Scoban, up and running although he said the process was taking longer than planned.
Entwistle, who spent much of his career at private bank Adam & Co and helped sell the firm to Royal Bank of Scotland in 1993, said he planned to issue a prospectus this week to get more funds from potential investors.
“We need £50m for the core bank and £25m to buy asset managers,” he told Reuters, adding that raising funds via a listing on the junior AIM stock market was also an option.
However, Entwistle said the process was taking longer than planned, with many institutional investors still wary of putting money into new projects following the 2008 financial crisis.
“When I first approached the FSA (Financial Services Authority) watchdog, they said it would take longer than you think and it will cost you more than you think.”
“A lot of institutions are still suffering from 2008. There’s a very cautious attitude towards investing in something new.”
Entwistle’s situation mirrors that of British Enterprise Bank – a venture set up to lend to small businesses, which is also still looking to raise some £100m to get its business up and running nearly two years after its first launch.
Britain wants to inject more competition into its banking sector, but the industry remains dominated by the top five of Barclays, HSBC, part-nationalised lenders RBS (RBS.L) and Lloyds, and Santander UK.
New banks such as Aldermore and Metro Bank have made some in-roads, but still have a market share that remains a fraction of that of the “Big Four” players.
Entwistle said his Scoban firm could benefit from dissatisfaction with the industry, caused by last year’s fines on the top banks for insurance mis-selling and recent multi-million pound fines on RBS’s Coutts private bank.
“The main reason people are saying ‘yes’ to a new private bank for service is that most of the private banks are owned by a big player, and the big players are seen to be more interested in selling products than providing service,” he said.