Founded in Germany in 2009, Munich-based Fidor has established a reputation in European banking circles as a disruptive innovator, utilising a full range of social media, crowdfunding and P2P lending techniques and digital currency services to build its business.

Available in the UK from today, the bank’s first service is providing a flexible saving bonds offering alongside a euro transfer service with a competitive flat fee for international money transfers.

Over the next few months Fidor says it will introduce a current account, debit card, corporate account and will also integrate third-party services to offer its customers a marketplace of curated financial services, such as peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding platforms as well as multi-currency investments.

Fidor’s banking model is based around its online community, where users are financially rewarded for giving and receiving knowledgeable financial advice, as well as evaluating and reviewing financial products and services they are interested in. Each customers is able to build a personal profile where reputation is gained through ‘karma’. Regular interaction, sound advice and feedback builds a customer’s karma, improving their rating and online credibility.

Matthias Kröner, CEO of Fidor Bank, comments: “We’re putting the community at the heart of Fidor. This personalised approach to banking gives every customer a voice in how our bank is run, as well as giving them unprecedented control - setting their own interest rates, or naming the current account card that the bank will use for example, are just some of the options we’ve explored."

In Germany, the bank has quickly grown in popularity with its interactive online community and personal approach to customer support, and is now approaching 100,000 customers.

The arrival of Fidor on UK shores ups the stakes for the country's big banks as they await the arrival of further competition from a host of homegrown digital challengers, including Atom, Mondo, Starling, Secco and Tandem.