What makes metro bank different

Diverse teams really are the best teams. We know that candidates especially women, research tells us may be put off applying for a job unless they can tick every box. Our culture encourages our colleagues to bring the best they have when helping our customers and supporting each other at work.

All groups are open to all colleagues, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. Metro Bank are committed to making a difference and delivering a different type of banking for Britain.

We are passionate about providing customers with unparalleled levels of service and convenience. This is why our stores are open 7 days a week, and from 8am to 8pm on weekdays. Kids matter at Metro Bank. Every year we help thousands of children take their first steps with money. We encourage them to save and count their coins using our Magic Money Machines and learn about budgeting with our financial education programme.

Every year we host thousands of charity and business networking events across our stores. Being a socially responsible and ethical organisation matters to us — it underpins our culture and how we conduct ourselves every day.

We want colleagues to bring their whole personality to work — not leave their best bits at the door. Over 50 per cent of staff are under the age of They have a policy of trying to recruit as many employees as possible from the year old age band where unemployment levels are very high.

When new stores are opened in Chiswick, Ealing and Hounslow, 15 out of the 25 people employed in each one are likely to be between the ages of 18 and As well as providing an opportunity for young people to get a job, Metro Bank is prepared to promote them very fast if they are good.

Recruitment Recruitment as well as promotion from within is encouraged. Whether friends or family, people tend to be closest to like-minded people. Another similarity with O2. Metro Bank is very selective, with 3, people interviewed for its first 60 customer-facing posts.

The majority of the one day assessment process is spent in role play designed to identify the candidates with the right people-focused personalities to fit the Metro Bank business model. AMAZE Another key element of the business model is relentless execution — doing a thousand things a little bit better. It means fulfilling Customer needs, even anticipating them. We want them to tell their family members, friends and business associates about the products and superior services we provide.

The future Will Metro Bank succeed? With every element of its DNA aligning with the philosophy of this magazine, we obviously hope so. But banking is a competitive industry with immensely powerful incumbents, who will not take any new competitive threat lying down, even if it is from a relative minnow like Metro Bank.

Barclays has already launched its new friendly, open-plan bank layout, which it is currently rolling out across 1, branches. As Anthony Thomson says: "Fortune favours the brave. To be honest, we didn't know quite what to expect at first, but there is obviously a real demand from people for a different kind of bank. Cookie policy - you'll see this message only once. This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. A bank with stores that are open when it suits you, where you can walk in without an appointment and leave with a working account, debit card and all.

A bank that puts you first. Metro Bank first opened its doors in the summer of , the first high street bank to open in the UK in over years. See our store opening hours. No more nasty surprises in the small print.

We're committed to making a difference and delivering a different type of banking for Britain. We are committed to providing you with unparalleled levels of service and convenience. I was there when Metro Bank hit the British High Street in the summer of , chatting with quirky, affable American founder Vernon Hill about his love of dogs and treating customers properly.

Although I had doubts about the decor in the Metro 'stores' read: branches popping up across London, I welcomed the wind of change as now former chairman Anthony Thomson guided me around the bank's vaults in Holborn.

It seemed Hill and Thomson - and their bold British venture - were just the breath of fresh air the industry had been waiting for. Quite simply, several years of insurance and investment mis-selling, financial crisis, and obscene executive bonuses had left a bad smell in the banking world.

Finally customer service was being put back on the map and being used as the basis for building a successful company by the first new bank to launch on Britain's high streets in a century. After all, it's always seemed to me painfully obvious that focusing on treating your customer with honesty and integrity - and letting the profits follow after - is most viable business model in the long-term for financial services companies.

Any money-grabbing is likely to come unstuck at some stage. So I welcomed Metro with open arms in a comment piece you can still read on this website. Fast forward the clock two and a half years and I'm feeling a little different. Three bad experiences - and numerous anecdotal tales of woe - have left me disillusioned with Metro and its claim to be different to its monolithic rivals.

First, there was the lapse in Metro's processes. One unique selling-point is the bank's ability to issue new debit cards on the spot using in-branch printers. Another rare attraction on Metro's current account is free debit card use abroad. So I signed up in a snap decision just before a trip to France.

It was only on arrival in Paris that it dawned on me that I'd never been given a PIN number and the card wouldn't work. When they double-checked and found I wasn't - an error had been made - the apologies started pouring in.

My next frustration came after leaving my wallet in the back of a taxi. When I tried to cancel the card, Metro's call centre said that without the long number - the one on the bit of plastic in the missing wallet - nothing could be done. I'd have to wait for a call from another member of staff at an unspecified time in the future.

A crook might have been ransacking my account at that very moment, yet the bank acted as if I'd called the talking clock because I'd lost my watch. It was a disappointing effort for an bank sold on top-notch customer service. Despite the mishaps, I still recommended the bank to a friend just before Christmas as she prepared for a six-week globe-trotting expedition.

Free card use abroad is not to be sniffed at, after all, and could save her hundreds over a month-and-a-half.