New bank building a nucleus around its digital proposition

ATOM Bank is in the process of launching itself as the new kid on the banking block, having received its licence in June.

Atom is a digital only bank and has developed personal and business banking products and services that will be delivered using mobile apps, with a desktop version to follow.
Biometric security and in-app account opening are just some of the features being developed to deliver a branch-free, paper-free bank.
 
It wasn’t until recently that it even became possible to set up a new bank in such a heavily regulated sector and the regulatory framework and access to capital were both significant hurdles that the founders have successfully overcome.
Atom’s chief executive Mark Mullen has 25 years’ experience in the sector and was previously head of telephone and internet bank first direct, whilst founder and chairman Anthony Thomson, is also the founder and former chairman at Metro Bank.
They say that Atom represents the first real alternative to traditional High Street banks and it is free of the existing banks’ branch and legacy costs.
 
 
 
Being purely digital gives the bank the opportunity to fundamentally rethink the industry’s traditional approach to the customer relationship.
Its strategy, once it starts trading, is to champion customer experience with a low-cost model, transparent pricing and digital innovation.
Craig Iley, managing director of business banking at Atom Bank, gives one example: “Traditional banks in the business space always aspired to be trusted advisers but actually they weren’t that good at it.
“Do people want a relationship with their bank or do they have a relationship with their money and what they want to facilitate – in which case it is the processes and the systems that drive their behaviour.”
He accepts that some business banking customers do want that relationship with their bank but says what Atom Bank offers – through transparency and low cost platforms – is choice.
“Those that want the relationship model will find there will be more clarity on what they are paying for and those that don’t will find they are not subsidising someone else,” he says.
Iley hopes that Atom will become a disruptive force within the wider banking industry in the UK and thinks technology more generally will play a big part in driving that change – forcing banks to change their charging structures and think hard about customer engagement.
“Transparency is the one big thing the industry needs to fight for. If you don’t know how your bank charges are made up you have no idea what you are paying for. The only person who pays at the end of the day is the customer but people want to understand what they are paying for,” he says.
He points to payment systems like ApplePay: “The issue from the banks’ point of view isn’t that they lose some income from transactions – you still need a bank underneath to do that transaction – but you have relegated the bank to become the dumb rails that the clever bit sits on and the clever bit is where the conversation takes place with the customer.” 

 
 

 

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