← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Metro Bank

“Can Metro Bank rebuild trust and grow fee-based revenues by embedding SME-focused financial services — insurance, invoice finance, and payments tools — into its high-street banking proposition?”

Founded2010
HQOne Southampton Row, London WC1B 5HA, United Kingdom
IndustryBank / National
The story

Metro Bank launched in 2010 as a challenger high-street bank in the UK, differentiating on customer service and extended branch hours rather than purely digital-first. It listed publicly in 2019 but suffered a major capital and accounting scandal in 2019-2020 that required a significant capital raise and restructuring. By 2021-2024, Metro Bank pivoted toward embedding financial services (insurance, invoice finance, SME payments tools via BankiFi) as adjacencies to its core banking proposition, while working to comply with UK Open Banking mandates. The bank is now focused on serving retail and SME customers with a mix of in-house banking products and third-party embedded finance partnerships.

Last 12 months
2024-10
Product timeline
2010
Metro Bank founded as the first new high-street bank in the UK in over 100 years, focusing on retail and SME customers with extended store hours.· banking
2018
Metro Bank opened its developer portal and began implementing PSD2/Open Banking APIs to comply with UK Open Banking mandate effective January 2018.· banking
2019
Metro Bank listed on the London Stock Exchange under ticker MTRO.· ipo
2021
Metro Bank entered the insurance market for SMEs via a partnership with Churchill Expert (Direct Line Group), followed by pet insurance via Cardif Pinnacle / Everypaw.· banking
2023
Metro Bank deployed a Dedicated Interface (AIS APIs) for Open Banking compliance, with PIS APIs still in development.· banking
2024
Metro Bank partnered with BankiFi to launch 'Invoice It', an embedded payments and accounts receivable app for SME current account holders.· lending
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Metro Bank
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Metro Bank’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Railsr
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Insurance
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
11 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.