ActivTrades awarded banking licence

07/07/2022

The latest Bank of England list of authorised banks shows that ActivTrades Loans Plc has been awarded a banking licence, authorised with restrictions.  The Bank moved in to mobilisation on 28th June 2022 and has up to a year to go back to the regulator to request restrictions, the key one being a limit of just £50,000 in total deposits that can be held, be lifted.  It is the second authorisation of 2022 following AM-MN Holdings (Ashman Finance) authorisation in June.

ActivTrades was set up in 2001 by Alex Pusco and is a pioneering online trading platform with its own trading platform.  It's been highly profitable and successful since and in 2016 it commenced initial work towards obtaining a UK banking licence.  It is understood to have selected Mutual Vision as its core banking platform, which is the platform of choice for many building societies in the UK.

The firm is already an active lender with a successful briding finance division already established, led by Steve Brennan, and is expected to diversify further in to other short term property finance and commercial property lending.  It's Chief Executive is Steve Pateman, ex Hodge and Shawbrook CEO, and it has a strong board including John Reed as Chair, who holds the same role at EFG Private Bank and is a Senior INED at Ford Credit Europe Bank, which operates in the UK under the Ford Money brand.  He has recently been joined by ex Cambridge & Counties CEO Mike Kirsopp.

The Bank will be renamed StreamBank next week and we expect it to launch with straight forward savings products including fixed rate bonds and notice accounts, although it's unlikely to launch these until the first half of 2023.