CYBG Rebrands To Virgin Money Name In SMB Pursuit

The Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG) brand is going into retirement after its merger with Virgin Money, which will have its name lead the revamped U.K. financial institution (FI), reports in the BBC said on Wednesday (June 19).

CYBG, which announced its takeover of Virgin Money last year, will shift its customers to Virgin Money and fully rebrand the entity by 2021, the publication said, with the CYBG brand itself changing to Virgin Money at the end of this year. The company is reportedly warning of job cuts as it looks to trim spending and promote automated services, with expectations of up to 16 percent of the current workforce to go, and about 12 branches to close.

The CYBG digital bank unit called B will be the first to rebrand under the Virgin Money merger.

“Both brands are a by-word for reliability and trust, and we understand the emotional attachment customers and local communities have [toward] them,” said CYBG CEO David Duffy in a statement. “Marrying the values and expertise of these heritage brands with the Virgin Money brand will allow us to realize efficiencies, and grow our business throughout the U.K.”

The rebrand is part of the bank’s overall digital transformation efforts to ramp up competition against tech-savvy rivals, and strengthen its position in the small business (SMB) market. Separate reports in SmallBusiness.co.uk, also on Wednesday, noted that Virgin Money will pursue a 40 percent increase of the SMB banking market, which would increase its current market share from 3.5 percent to 5 percent.

Virgin Money will launch its business account service in the first half of 2020. In addition, SmallBusiness.co.uk noted another CYBG statement pointing to the small business sector as “an opportunity for us to look at our network.”

“We have a clear ambition to disrupt the status quo with the new Virgin Money,” Duffy said. “The new group combines the iconic Virgin brand — with its distinctive and brilliant customer experience — with CYBG’s technology, product expertise and know-how. We believe we have the winning formula that will create a new force in consumer and business banking.”

So far, CYBG — which has been in existence for 175 years — has been snubbed twice after applying for a share of the $1 billion in funds set aside by RBS to promote competition in the SMB banking sector.