WorldPay Founder Nick Ogden to Launch Fintech-Focused Challenger Bank

Nick Ogden, the founder of Payments provider WorldPay, is gearing up to launch a new challenger bank in the UK after receiving approval by financial regulators, according to a Financial Times report today.

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Ogden created WorldPay in 1997, which guaranteed internet transactions worldwide. He led the company through its growth to over 270 employees with 20,000 merchants in 120 countries, processing transactions in excess of $2 billion a year.

WorldPay was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2002, before being sold to private equity firms Advent International and Bain Capital in 2009 and then listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.

FCA Approval

Ogden is planning to launch ClearBank in the coming months and will serve as chairman, according to filings with the Financial Conduct Authority. Former Royal Bank of Scotland senior manager Charles McManus will be chief executive.

The FT said that the new bank, which will focus on Fintech and “intelligent accounts”, will join a stream of other digitally-focused lenders that are planning to launch over the coming months.

Simon Kirby, the UK’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said that "new digital banks are vital to boosting competition in retail banking and in cementing the UK’s role as a hub for fintech".