http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11513405/UK-launch-of-digital-bank-Fidor-hamstrung-by-payments-providers.htmlThis link is probably inaccessible to foreigners so here's a paste too.
"A German bank is set to bring brand new banking technology to Britain, once it is able to secure access to UK payment architecture.
The lender, Fidor Bank, had planned to launch in the UK by the end of March, but has been held up with the country’s difficult payments infrastructure. The big four - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS - act as sponsor banks with direct access to payments systems. None has accepted Fidor as a customer.
Frank Schwab, CEO of Fidor’s technology subsidiary TecS, said that the problems the bank had encountered were unexpected. “We did not know that it was such a challenge, we only found out once we started the project,” he said.
The new Pay ment Systems Regulator (PSR) which launched at the start of April has set out to review the access available to the UK’s infrastructure. The PSR said that it had started the review in part because of concerns raised about “the limited choice of indirect access providers” or sponsor banks available. The PSR expects to deliver its finding in 12 months.
Mr Schwab said that the obstacles presented by the payments infrastructure were “very specific to the UK market”. Despite the obstacles, Mr Schwab said that a UK launch was “now close” and the lender would certainly be operating in the country by the end of the year.
Fidor’s technology makes it unique, allowing the public open access to its systems so that software developers can create their own interfaces and apps. Mr Schwab believes the bank has a strong first mover advantage, and that traditional lenders would take up to two years to catch up with what the German bank has achieved in this area.
Founded in 2007, Fidor began in Germany, and has since expanded via a joint venture in Russia. Once operations began in UK, the lender also plans to expand into the US by the end of the year.
The company chose the UK as its next destination for London’s innovative financial technology scene, which it believes is more open to the kind of products it has developed than its home markets. Unlikely in Germany where savers can choose between some 2,000 banks, in the UK Fidor will only have to compete with around 10, Mr Schwab said.
Fidor’s customers will not be restricted by bank holidays or short hours of services on Sundays at its branches - because it won’t have any. People willing to bank with Fidor will be willing to eschew high street visits, and even phone lines. But in return, they will have access to a modern service that promises speed and simplicity.
None of the functions Fidor offers will ever take longer than 60 seconds to complete. In Germany, it’s already possible for a customer to get a loan approved within a minute, perhaps while waiting in line to pay for their groceries.
Mr Schwab argues that traditional banks have failed to adapt to an audience hooked on social media. Fidor is aiming to pick up the kind of saver who uses Facebook every day, and businesses who sell their wares with an eBay or Amazon store. It is these digitally-savvy types that Fidor thinks it can find in the UK, and London especially."
This shouldn't have come as a surprise to Fidor. They're the most crypto friendly bank out there. That's an instant and overwhelming no from the guardians of the UK banking walled garden.
I wonder when this bollocks will come to an end.
