We’re bringing banking back to business,’ said Capital Group chief executive officer Greg Ellison.

He was speaking at the event which saw Capital International Bank become the first new bank to launch in the island in more than 30 years.

This local launch, to Isle of Man-based clients, comes after five years’ work on the project and represents the first new bank under the Alternative Banking Regime and the island’s first digital-only bank.

Built specifically around the needs of corporates, professional services, fiduciaries, eCommerce and eGaming firms, Capital International Bank offers a range of digital features that will bring benefits to several sectors.

Initial discussions about opening a bank began back in 2016. Sixty-five research meetings in eight countries then followed to gain a better understanding of the needs of the target clients. In August 2019, after submitting a business plan to the Financial Services Authority, the bank was awarded a provisional class 1(2) licence. A full class 1(2) licence would allow Capital to offer services to qualifying corporate clients and high net-worth individuals. Class 1(2) licence holders are not members of the Isle of Man Depositor Compensation Scheme.

Mr Ellison said: ’The aim of the project was to bring banking back to business. During the research phase, one frustration that was repeatedly highlighted was the "slow no", whereby clients submit masses of documentation to open a bank account and then wait for weeks or months only to receive a "no appetite" decision.

’To remedy this, Capital International Bank features a 200-second pre-application at the end of which clients will know whether they are able to open an account and what it is likely to cost. The onboarding process is also entirely digital. All documents are uploaded online and the application typically takes between 25 and 90 minutes for standard risk accounts. Each account will save hundreds of sheets of paper over its lifetime, and the company will also be planting two trees, one in the Isle of Man and one in Africa, for every new account opened.

’Once clients have completed the application, we can open accounts in two days for standard risk accounts and around a week for higher risk business, with all decisions made by a local committee who understand the target sectors.’

To demonstrate the capabilities of the bank, at the launch event, Capital’s client engagement team were in attendance and completed the opening of a client account over the course of the evening.

With a total of 1,607 days having passed since the Group embarked on the journey, on May 27 this year Capital International Bank received its full banking licence, and its virtual doors could be opened to new clients.

In order to bring something unique to market and have full control over the features and client experience, the bank was built from scratch by Capital’s development team. Over 150,000 lines of code were written in the process. New releases for the bank are scheduled on a bi-weekly basis, to continuously shape the service based on client feedback.

Since the project began, the Group has added around 100 new, high-quality recruits across the business. The current headcount in the Isle of Man stands at around 170. Around £13m has been invested in building the bank which remains privately owned and controlled in the Isle of Man.

The idea of a digital corporate bank fits with Capital International Group’s continuing aim from when it was founded in 1996, to bring technology and service excellence to the stockbroking and investment sectors in the Isle of Man. Today, the firm provides investment management, platform and treasury services to clients all over the world from its four offices across the Isle of Man and South Africa.

In his speech on the evening, Mr Ellison thanked his team, clients of the group, shareholders, the Isle of Man FSA, and the Department for Enterprise, as well as the government for their leadership in steering the island through the pandemic, before proposing a toast to the bank’s future success.

l Turn to page 29 for pictures of the new bank’s launch event.