Metro Bank, the first new high street player to enter the UK market for 100 years, will open its doors to customers in six weeks.
The first branch - at One Southampton Row, Holborn, London - will open for business on 29 July, with a second in Earl's Court following a week later. Metro says it plans a further 12 stores for Greater London over the next two years as part of a 200 store expansion.
Metro Bank has been in gestation for over a year, looking to cash in on consumer distaste for traditional banking methods in the aftermath of the credit crunch, promising old-fashioned deposit-based lending and superior customer service.
Branches will be open seven days a week. Opening hours will be 8.00am to 8.00pm from Monday to Friday. There will be a 15-minute turnaround time for approved account applications over-the-counter and branch services will be backed up by online services and a 24/7, London-based, call centre.
In addition, branches will give a "friendly welcome to dogs and their owners" complete with water bowls and dog biscuits.
The bank is co-founded by Anthony Thomson and Vernon Hill, the US entrepreneur who established Commerce Bank, on which the new venture is based, in the 1970s. This week the Reuben brothers acquired a five per cent stake in the firm.
"Our focus will always be the customers, both retail and business, and making sure we do the right thing by them. The British public deserves a better banking experience, and Metro Bank intends to give it to them, where, when and however they choose," says Hill.