The spike in applications follows regulatory changes in March which made it easier for firms to apply for banking licences. Under these rules new banks are not required to hold as much capital as firms already operating in the sector.
At the same point last year the regulator was considering just three licence proposals.
The PRA was unable to confirm whether any applications were close to approval but said the changes earlier this year were also intended to speed up the application process.
Earlier this year buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon confirmed it was set to apply for a licence in order to take on retail deposits.
Elsewhere, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said the UK economy is recovering and does not need a further expansion of the quantitative easing programme.
In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Carney said that while the Bank would consider the case for more QE should the economy falter, he did not currently see any reason for further stimulus to be injected.
“My personal view is, given the recovery has strengthened and broadened, I don’t see a case for quantitative easing and I have not supported it,” he said.
The Bank has already pumped £375bn into the economy to help the country recover from one of the worst recessions ever experienced.
However, growth has started to pick up more sharply, with yesterday’s final reading of Q2 GDP confirming growth of 0.7%.
Carney said the recovery was broadening across the country and had been helped by a rise in growth in Europe and the US.
“The advanced economies as a whole are doing a bit better. That’s going to help the UK as a whole. These are more traditional export markets so that matters,” he said.
“Within the UK, we are probably leading the pack of the major advanced economies as we speak right now. But of course we had the deepest recession so we are coming back from that.”
Carney said the sustainability of the recovery would be underpinned by getting more people into work and increasing wages.
