Metro Bank co-founder Anthony Thomson is set to launch a new digital lender called 86,400 in Australia.
The bank, supported by Australian independent payments provider Cuscal, is expected to be launched in the first quarter of next year. This will be after securing banking licence in the country.
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The name ’86,400’ signifies the number of seconds in a day and pronounced as eighty-six four hundred.
Australia digital bank
Anthony Thomson will serve as the chairman of the bank, while Robert Bell will be the chief executive.
Thomson said: “Because 86,400 will ultimately have a lower cost ratio than a traditional bank – completely free of expensive, cumbersome legacy technology and physical branches – we’ll be able to provide better value products for customers and better returns for our investors.”
Thomson was also associated with the launch of Atom Bank, a digital lender based in the UK.
The lender, which will employ around 60 people, is expected to have lower operating costs. This is due to absence of brick and mortar branches.
The announcement to launch 86,400 comes at a time when the Australian banking sector is affected by multiple money laundering and rate-rigging scandals.
