Castle Trust Capital has been granted full authorisation as a bank by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), following a period of authorisation with restrictions.

After being authorised with restrictions in March 2020, Castle Trust undertook testing of its new savings system and asked its customers to vote on proposals to convert their existing investments into bank deposits. Castle Trust’s customers voted in favour with an overwhelming majority and the conversion will take place later this month. 

Martin Bischoff, Castle Trust’s chief executive officer, said: “Being granted a full banking licence signals the start of the next phase of Castle Trust’s growth. Our first priority is to convert our 30,000 existing investment accounts into savings accounts, after which we look forward to launching our exciting new range of savings products in late July.

“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.  

“The banking licence also offers great potential for growth within Omni Capital Retail Finance, which will help more retailers and small & medium sized businesses to provide their products and services to more consumers.”

Tim Hanford, managing director of J.C. Flowers & Co., Castle Trust’s majority shareholder, added: “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.”