Online banking era spearheaded by British fund management ace Neil Woodford gets hotter as Tandem Bank hits the market

The Bank of England has granted a licence to another online bank today, which enters the market under the name Tandem Bank.

Furthering the fintech-orientated, ultra-modern online financial ethos of London’s movers & shakers, Tandem Bank is the fifth start-up electronic banking institution to have been granted a license by the Bank of England this year alone, and the 21st since 2012.

The prominent players which currently contend for supremacy among banks with no branches include Atom Bank, which was granted its license in June this year.

Atom Bank is backed by British investment manager Neil Woodford, whose shrewd investing prowess includes his gain of 19.6% in the first year of operations with his Equity Income Fund, and 7.8% return on his FTSE All Share index.

Tandem Bank follows in the footsteps of startups such as Atom Bank, and offers traditional banking facilities including loans, credit cards, savings and current accounts without any high street presence whatsoever, instead hosting its entire service on the internet.

The company’s target client base includes the new generation of tech-savvy investors who prefer to use smartphones, payment dongles and contactless solutions, rather in the same vane as today’s ultra-slick FX traders.

Founded as a result of an ideology by Ricky Knox, who is a major figure int he deliverable FX world via his establishment of international money transfer sevice Azimo, assisted by Matt Cooper who is a co-founder of Capital One.

Mr. Knox today stated publicly

“We are very excited to take full advantage of today’s digital technology, however, we are far more than a digital bank – above all, we are here to build a good bank.”

“What does that mean? For too long, traditional banks have made money at their customers’ expense – for example by letting them borrow long term on credit cards, or not advising them to move money into newer savings products carrying higher interest rates.”

“We want to build a bank that challenges this model by putting our customers’ interests first and by working in Tandem with them as their partner in money. It means we can be a bank that truly champions its customers and we plan to prove it at every point.”

Majoring on technology, Tandem Bank’s ethos is to use big data and mobile technology to make improvements to the operational ergonomics of banking systems, thus making the lives of customers much easier.

The firm aims to avoid traditional banking pitfalls such as overdrafts or missed payments with nudges and reminders.

Aiming to take on the large high street banks, the firm aims to attract five million current account customers within five years.

The deluge of online bank startups is continuing, with the FCA’s former CEO Martin Wheatley having explained at the beginning of this year that there had been approximately twenty proposed startup banks at pre-authorization stage.