Former HSBC Tech Exec Gill’s Part of ‘Boring’ Startup

Bank Technology News  |  February, 2010

By John Adams

Print Email Reprints Feedback

A group of British entrepreneurs, including David Gill—the former head of technology and innovation at HSBC—are starting a new bank called “The Boring Bank of Cambridge” or “Cambridge Boring Bank” to draw attention to the venture’s risk-averse culture following the financial crisis.

Gill, who’s presently the managing director of the Cambridge-based St. John’s Innovation Centre—which provides early stage knowledge-based firms with consultancy services—will serve on the new bank’s board. Peregrine Banbury, the former head of Coutts private bank, will be CEO.

The new bank will focus to small local businesses in the local area, which includes a number of tech startups.

It’s one of many similar moves, as the current climate in the U.K. appears ripe for de novos with a strategy of brand separation from the excesses of the past decade.

A number of firms, such as Tesco, Virgin Money, Blackstone, Metro Bank—an institution partly led by Commerce Bank founder Vernon Hill—and Walton & Company, are all positioning to take advantage of the disillusionment with the U.K. banking establishment to start new financial institutions focused on tech innovation and conservative risk management. Additionally, department store exec John Lewis is also plotting a move, with a branchless bank that would operate out of department stores and online.