A Sky News report said the challenger bank was preparing for a listing which could value it at more than £1bn.
Talk of a public flotation has been circulating since earlier this year when founder and chairman Vernon Hill told the Financial Times Metro Bank aimed to go public in 2016 raising £300m which would be invested back into the business for growth.
The bank obtained its banking licence in March 2010, opening two branches a month later in central London. Its network has now risen to more than 35 branches concentrated in London and the South East. Its proposition was to shake-up high street banking by offering seven-day-week opening hours including bank holidays and 24-hour phone.
Mortgage lending was initially offered directly to consumers. In June 2012, it began a pilot to distribute mortgages through brokers restricted to properties based in London and the South East. Since then, distribution has gradually widened as more networks added Metro Bank to their panels and in December 2014, it opened up its intermediary residential and buy-to-let lending across England and Wales.
Rival challenger bank Aldermore, launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in March this year, releasing 34.8% of share capital priced at 192 pence giving it market capitalisation of £651m. Virgin Money listed on the stock exchange in November last year with an IPO valued at 283 pence, valuing the company at £1.25bn.
Metro Bank declined to comment on the IPO.
