METRO COMPLETES IPO

Metro Bank, a challenger to the usual suite of banking options for UK consumers, completed its IPO in early March valuing the bank at £1.6 billion. The loss-making bank which set up 35 branches in London and across the southeast UK since 2010 (while others shutter branches), was originally backed by Vernon Hill who also created Commerce Bank (now TD's US operations) and a consortium of investors, reportedly including Blackrock, Fidelity and veteran banker, Ken Moellis. So congrats to that group for challenging the staid UK consumer banking arena and creating a valuable asset and alternative for the consumer. However, as reported by ITPortal, there is a debate about going on about branch banking versus on-line services int the increasingly IT savvy London market as noted here: http://www.itproportal.com/2016/03/04/metro-banks-ipo-what-does-mean-for-traditional-banks/.  So far, there is a gap in London for branch banking at least at this level which Metro has observed and exploited successfully. But growth and profitability may require overtime further consideration to on-line banking by its management.