Metro Bank CFO quits just days before financial results

Metro Bank’s chief financial officer David Arden has quit the bank just days before the bank announces its preliminary financial results.

Arden has quit the top finance role and will leave the bank on April 1.

In the intervening period, Marc Jenkins, deputy CFO, will carry out the CFO role while Metro Bank recruits for an interim CFO.

Metro Bank, often hailed as one of the first and most successful UK fintechs, said today that its preliminary financial results will still be announced on 23 February as planned.

It said the results are expected to be in line with management expectations.

Daniel Frumkin, CEO said: "On behalf of the board I would like to thank David for the important work that he has done to strengthen Metro Bank's financial controls over the past two years. 

“He has played an instrumental role in helping to deliver the bank's strategic priorities and turnaround plan and leaves with our best wishes for the future."

The exit of Arden, who was previously CFO at Sainsbury's Bank and joined the fintech in March 2018, comes amid Metro Bank enduring a difficult few months.

In December last year, it was hit with a £5.38m fine by the banking authorities over financial wrongdoing.

The fine related to failures in its regulatory reporting, after the bank revealed an accounting mistake in 2019.

The challenger bank, set up in 2010, misreported the value of its commercial loan portfolio that wiped £800m of the bank’s value and also saw its shares plunge by over 40 per cent.

In November, its shares tanked by 18 per cent after private equity firm Carlyle ditched its takeover pursuit of the troubled lender.

Carlyle first disclosed bid talks with Metro at the start of November and had until December 2 to make a firm bid but ditched plans before the cutoff date.

Metro Bank made a pre-tax loss of £138.9m in the six months to 30 June 2021, nearly double the losses of £71m seen in the previous six months.