The Cambridge Commercial Lending Company – as the venture is called for now – will change its name once it has raised £50m in funding and has received a banking license from the FSA.
The brain behind the venture – banker, entrepreneur and violin collector Nigel Brown – said the name would reflect the risk-averse attitude of people following the financial collapse.
“Once we have the license, our plan is to name it either the Cambridge Boring Bank or the Boring Bank of Cambridge,” says Brown.
“After the financial collapse, people want to know that banks are really, really boring again – but trustworthy. They also want to see a bank manager again, get advice and all those basic things which are sadly lacking in banks today.”
The first chief executive of the bank-to-be will be Peregrine Banbury, the former head of Coutts private bank, while David Gill – HSBC’s former head of technology and innovation, who is currently MD of Cambridge-based St John’s Innovation Centre – will serve on the board.
The new firm, which held its first directors’ meeting last week, will focus on small businesses in the local area, which has earned the sobriquet of Silicon Fen, after its reputation of attracting high-tech start-ups.
Most of the £50m in funding is coming from a local institution, says Brown, but he is in talks with other investors.
“It’s only by making banking boring that real investment gets to the right places in the economy, just as bankers did during the industrial revolution,” he adds.
We, at Real Business, applaud the initiative and wish them all the best in their boring new venture.
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