Spanish lender BBVA has invested £45 million into the UK’s first mobile-only bank, known to be a disrupter of traditional financial services, in order to build upon services that are customer driven.
Atom Bank was the first of its kind to be given a license to operate last June from the Prudential Regulation Authority, which was created as a part of the Bank of England in the 2012 Financial Services Act.
In preparation for the launch in early 2016, this investment will be beneficial for business generation for the mobile-only bank, as well as improving strategy with the introduction of BBVA members on the Atom Bank board and providing the opportunity to participate in future funding rounds.
The customer will be a top priority and Atom aims to offer the capability of opening accounts using the mobile application so that the user has easy access to their financial information. “Atom is delighted to partner with BBVA. We have long admired their vision and leadership, and like us, BBVA clearly believe in the power of technology to transform customers’ lives for the better,” Mark Mullen, Atom’s CEO said.
Antony Thomson, chairman at Atom, said that the mobile-only banks had raised over £135 million since the founding team came together 18 months ago. “Now with BBVA as our strategic partner we really do feel that the sky is the limit for Atom,” Thomson said.
Earlier this year, BBVA acquired user experience firm Spring Studio, big data and cloud computing startup Madiva Soluciones and banking tech company Simple.