Digital SME banking startup Recognise Bank has been given the green light by the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority to launch personal and business savings products and to start taking deposits.
The lifting of restrictions follows the completion of a £14 million capital raise in August for the City of London Group subsidiary.
More than 60 people are employed by Recognise, led by CEO Jason Oakley (pictured), a former head of commercial banking at Metro Bank.
Philip Jenks, chairman of COLG and Recognise Bank, comments: "We have completed the final step on the journey to becoming a fully authorised digitally led bank which has been our primary objective for three years. We have grown the Recognise employee base to over 60 high calibre members and secured a strong executive team, led by Jason Oakley as CEO.
"The recent capital raise will enable us to realise our strategic ambitions for Recognise Bank, namely increasing the size of the loan book with access to funding from depositors through our business and personal savings products."
The bank has already received £750 million in lending enquiries since it opened its doors in November 2020 he says. The ambition is to grow its base over the next five years to more than 5000 SME borrowers and over 50,000 savings customers.
Recognise Bank will launch FSCS protected personal savings products on Tuesday 21 September 2021, with business saving products due to launch later.