Castle Trust’s full bank status paves way for new lending ranges

The specialist lender became authorised with restrictions attached to the licence in March. One of these restrictions was the testing of its savings system.

Once completed, the lender asked its customers to vote on proposals to covert their investments into bank deposits. An overwhelming majority voted to proceed allowing Castle Trust to begin the conversion later this month.

Martin Bischoff, chief executive officer, said the bank’s first priority was to convert its 30,000 existing investment accounts into savings accounts. It would then look to launch a new range of savings products in late July.

He added: “The full banking licence opens up many new opportunities for the business, which we expect to benefit our specialist property finance and retail finance offerings. We already have 200,000 customers and look forward to helping even more in the future.

“We’ll be revealing details of our enhanced specialist property lending proposition shortly, which will build upon our existing offering to meet the needs of buy-to-let landlords and high net worth individuals.

“Our new status enables us to work with a wider range of property brokers.”

Tim Hanford, managing director of J.C. Flowers & Co, Castle Trust’s majority shareholder, said: “Castle Trust’s achievement of a full banking licence is the culmination of a great deal of work over an extended period of time. The licence is the endorsement of the quality of this business at many levels.

“We have a terrific board and an exceptional team of people who deliver innovative products to our customers supported by a technologically advanced infrastructure with robust processes and controls.

“We look forward to continuing to be part of Castle Trust’s development and success, and remain excited by the opportunities for a nimble competitor in the UK banking market.”