Metro Bank Puts Itself Up for Sale and Is Open to Bids

Metro Bank has announced that it is putting itself up for sale and is open to bids. The announcement was made on 12 November 2026, and the bank's shares rose 7% by mid-morning that day, according to The Guardian.

Metro Bank was launched in 2010 by the US businessman Vernon Hill as the first UK high street bank in more than 100 years. Its recent history has been shaped by a financial rescue. In 2023, a £925m rescue deal, brokered in part by the Bank of England (the UK's central bank), gave the bank a new major shareholder.

That shareholder is Jaime Gilinski Bacal, who holds a 53% stake through Spaldy Investments, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and used to hold the shares. He bought his Metro Bank shares at 30p each as part of the wider late-2023 rescue. He took a seat on the bank's board after securing the stake, and the value of his shares has since risen sixfold.

On 12 November 2026, Metro Bank's shares traded at 190p. At that price, Spaldy Investments could cash out a £427m windfall on its holding, and the bank was valued at about £1.3bn.

Metro Bank's chief executive, Daniel Frumkin, cut more than 1,000 jobs in spring 2024 and closed the bank's branches on Sundays.