Metro Bank Founder Fully Resigns Amid Accounting Scandal

The ongoing fallout from an accounting error at Metro Bank will now see Founder Vernon Hill completely exit the group after previously announcing he would remain on the board.

Reports in The Guardian on Wednesday (Oct. 2) said Hill has announced he will resign from the board of director by year’s end, meaning he will fully depart from the bank. Earlier this year, he announced that he would step down as chairman and expected to remain an independent director on the board, previously stating he would “probably die” before leaving the bank entirely.

Hill will retain a 3.6 percent stake in the bank, worth about $13.5 million.

“Vernon is the inspiration behind Metro Bank, the first high street bank to open in the U.K. in over 100 years,” said Sir Michael Snyder, the bank’s senior independent director, in a statement. “It is thanks to his vision and leadership that we have grown to 70 stores around the country, serving over 1.8 million customer accounts, and we’ve twice been ranked as the No. 1 bank for overall quality of service for personal banking.”

One of Metro’s existing independent directors will be appointed chairman if the bank is unable to find a suitable candidate by Dec. 31, reports noted.

Hill’s complete exit is the latest result of Metro’s misclassification of more than $1.1 billion worth of loans. Revelations of that misclassification revealed they were riskier than the bank had previously disclosed, and that the financial institution had significantly less capital to protect the bank in the case of economic trouble.

Financial regulators are currently investigating the bank and its senior officials, reports said. Shares in the bank had dropped by 90 percent since the accounting error was revealed in January.

Hill’s departure coincides with Metro Bank’s latest launch of a $370 million bond sale, only days after canceling a similar sale amid waning investor interest, according to reports.