Cynergy Bank applies for £10 mn grant from the Banking Competition Remedies

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UK-based Cynergy Bank has submitted an application for a £10 million grant from Pool B of the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR). The scheme aims to boost competition in the UK banking sector as part of the RBS’ response to EU state aid requirements. The grant is expected to speed up and enhance the Bank’s program for boosting SME customer proposition and growth.

Nick Fahy, CEO of Cynergy Bank, said, “We will offer the face-to-face relationship that is so valued by scale-ups, coupled with market-leading digital technology that will free up their time by automating more standard banking services. This gap in the banking market could be exposed in the post-COVID-19 reinvigoration of the economy. Ambitious scale-up enterprises will be vital for growth and job creation, and we want to support them, removing the barriers that can dampen their ambition.”

Cynergy Bank stated that it will create the UK’s first digital relationship bank for the underserved SME section of the economy. It will develop a Business Current Account with ancillary products and services to support the SMEs with the ambition to ‘scale-up’, as well as the capability and capacity to grow.

Fahy continued, “We hope the BCR will support this vital part of the economy at this crucial time, by helping Cynergy Bank to deliver the digital relationship bank that scale-up businesses need. Focussing the grants on banks whose plans are to grow their market share of micro and small businesses won’t help the recovery.”

“We firmly believe there is a middle ground for SME banking – one that isn’t the faceless retail banks; nor the purely app-based solutions. Technology should not replace human relationships. Rather, investment in technology should be used to deliver exceptional service via human beings.”

According to Cynergy Bank, it will invest £2 of its own funds for every £1 it receives from Capability and Innovation Fund to the end of 2022 to build a sustainable and exciting long-term SME proposition for its addressable market.