UK challenger banks continuing to grow, rankings show

Challenger banks in the UK are continuing to grow and outperform established banks, according to The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking for 2017.

The rankings showed a significant improvement in challenger banks such as Aldermore and Metro Bank, despite difficulties in the market.

Progress

The rankings showed that challenger banks are making progress, despite the banking sector being difficult for start-ups and analysts being sceptical over competition with established banks.

Metro Bank was found to have performed particularly well, moving up by 187 places to 782 in the Top 1000 World Banks ranking, marking one of the largest rises globally.

Virgin Money, which was established in 1995 before the rise in challenger banks began in 2010, came in 462nd place in the ranking, whilst Aldermore entered the ranking for the first time, coming in 805th place.

Two other UK challenger banks also featured in the global top 1,000 for the first time. These were Shawbrook, which made its debut at number 988, and OneSavings Bank, which entered at number 933.

Demands

Commenting on the ranking, World Wide Technology UK & Ireland Director Ben Boswell said: “This latest ranking indicates that the newer, so-called challenger players are finding it easier to adapt to the regulatory environment and consumer demands.”

He added: “We’ve already seen a surge in the number of financial services firms taking on board technology innovations as they seek to take full advantage of digital possibilities. But the data challenges which collaboration and the open banking environment creates – particularly around security – are significant, and hit the largest players hardest.”