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Vive Lands Banking License

Vive Lands Banking License

Challenger bank Vive Bank received some good news from the Bank of England today. The U.K.-based startup has been granted a banking license with restrictions.

Vive is aiming to ship its offerings in the second quarter of 2020 but unlike the region’s other challenger banks, Vive Bank will not be launching a current account. Instead, Vive Bank will focus on unsecured personal loans, a fixed-rate savings account, and PFM tools.

“It’s just not difficult to get a current account, so we want to focus on serving our customers with what they really need,” Vive CEO Nick Anthony said in an interview with AltFi. “We’re looking to serve a market where it’s more difficult for customers to get banking products. We want to make it simple and straightforward. Our unsecured personal loans, for example, will be far more than the narrow offering from high street banks, aimed at helping those with less than perfect credit scores.”

Vive Bank was founded in 2017 and has since refrained from promoting its services. While a waiting list is available on its website, the startup has intentionally remained quiet until today.