Marathon Asset Management is buying a stake in Atom Bank, the U.K.’s first app-based lender.
Marathon is reportedly participating in a £25 million share, reports Sky News. Atom was created by Anthony Thomson, who helped launch Metro Bank, and Mark Mullen, former head of HSBC’s First Direct lender. The duo wants to tap into the consumer drive for digital banking. U.K. lenders Lloyds and Barclays are closing hundreds of physical branches as mobile banking has more than doubled in the last three years.
Other Atom investors include former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, Neil Woodford’s Woodford Investment Management, Polar Capital, and Toscafund.
The app-based bank has not yet launched. In the U.S., mobile banks have garnered a great deal of attention. Moven Bank is considered a leader in the area. And Simple was bought late last year by Spain’s BBVA for $117 million.
Photo: David Rothwell