Metro Bank Provide Innovative Approach to Banking and Security with Trusteer

London, 8th March, 2011 – Metro Bank, the first new high street bank in the UK for 100 years, today announced it has enlisted the Trusteer Rapport secure browsing service to ensure its customers are protected and secure in their online transactions with the bank, from the start. Having experienced exponential growth since its launch in July, a key consideration in Metro Bank’s selection of Trusteer is that it is a proven security technology that can scale in a rapid growth environment moving from protecting a several thousand customers one day to millions the next.

Metro Bank brings a fresh approach to banking in the UK.

As a new entrant to the industry, Metro Bank has the perfect opportunity to benefit from the latest technology and business practice. One such area is online banking where it believes it is important not only to secure customers accessing their bank accounts online, but also when they spend online on other websites, with the mindset that providing adequate protection for all of its customers’ online financial transactions is paramount.

Craig Donaldson, CEO, Metro Bank PLC, explains further, “When we launched in July, we wanted to differentiate our services from other high street banks.  We take the security of our customers very seriously and that means we have the best security components available.  By adding Trusteer to our armory and offering it as a complimentary service to our customers, we can ensure that not only do we provide an  unparalleled customer service experience, but also that our customers’ money is completely safe and secure”.

“By selecting Trusteer, Metro Bank has plugged into the biggest financial attack database on the internet and can immediately leverage the experience of the most attacked brands in the world to protect their customers against malware and phishing attacks,¨ said Mickey Boodaei CEO of Trusteer.  “When it comes to being able to detect, analyze, and remove financial threats from customers' computers trusteer has proven over and over again that it’s the fastest and most comprehensive technology in the market today.”

Security Begins At Home

Unfortunately, in today’s threat environment, traditional protection methods (firewalls and antivirus software) are inadequate as criminals are continually striving to find ways to circumnavigate them. Zeus is one such example with its ability to morph making it hard for traditional technology to detect. Providing additional security measures helps everyone bank safely online, even those who are not technically savvy, which helps keep costs down. The strength of Trusteer is that it protects customers at their own PC providing a trusted secure access point to the bank, meaning they can transact securely and provides confidence that everyone is protected – bank and customers.

Trusteer Secures Online Banking

When a Trusteer user browses to sensitive websites such as internet banking, Webmail, or online payment pages, the service immediately locks down the browser and creates a secure tunnel for safe communication with the web site. This prevents malware from injecting data and stealing information entered and presented in the browser. Trusteer also removes malicious financial malware it discovers on protected machines. The service is directly connected to the bank and to a 24x7 fraud analysis service. Attempts to steal money from customers are immediately detected by the bank and are blocked using various layers of protection.

Trusteer Secures Online Spending 

When a customer uses their bank card to make an online purchase from a computer protected by Trusteer, the Rapport service automatically detects the action and then prevents fraudsters from intercepting the card number and protects any other personal information entered by the user into the webpage.

About Metro Bank PLC

Metro Bank was co-founded by Vernon Hill and Anthony Thomson. It is based on the successful Commerce Bank model that was established by Vernon Hill in the US in 1973. A UK management team worked with Vernon Hill to help bring this model to the UK market.

Metro Bank operates retail hours, not banking hours. It will be open seven days a week (8am- 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am - 6pm Saturday, 11am - 4pm Sunday and bank holidays), every day of the year apart from Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Metro Bank PLC. Registered in England and Wales. Company number: 6419578. Registered office: One Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5HA. ‘Metrobank’ is the registered trade mark of Metro Bank PLC.

In relation to acceptance of deposits and provision of investment and insurance services, Metro Bank PLC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority ('FSA'). In relation to consumer credit business, Metro Bank PLC is licensed and regulated by the Office of Fair Trading and not by the FSA. Most relevant deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.  For further information about the Scheme refer to the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk. 

All Metro Bank products are subject to status and approval.

Metro Bank PLC is an independent UK bank - it is not affiliated with any other bank or organisation (including the METRO newspaper or its publishers) anywhere in the world. Please refer to Metro Bank using the full name.

Metro Bank is led by a talented team of UK Executives:

  • Craig Donaldson, Chief Executive Officer, formerly Managing Director of Retail Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland
  • Paul Marriott-Clarke, Managing Director, Retail Banking, formerly Managing Director, Network South, Retail, HBOS
  • Darren Schindler, Managing Director, Commercial Banking, formerly CEO, Oak Capital Group
  • Aisling Kane, Chief Operations Officer, formerly Director of UK Operations at Anglo Irish Bank
  • Mike Brierley, Chief Financial Officer, formerly Director, Business Risk at Barclaycard
  • Mike Hudson, Chief Risk Officer, formerly Group Head of Risk at Hitachi Capital

Its non-executive directors are:

  • Stuart Bernau, former Retail Director, Nationwide Building Society
  • Keith Carby, Co-founder, J Rothschild Assurance
  • Howard Flight, Founder, Guinness Flight Asset Management
  • Ben Gunn, former Chief Executive of Friends Provident Life & Pensions
  • Vernon Hill, Founder of Commerce Bank
  • Eugene Lockhart, former CEO of Midland Bank and MasterCard International and former President, Global Retail Banking at Bank of America
  • Graeme Hardie, Senior Adviser on Retail Markets to the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
  • Anthony Thomson, Chairman, Financial Services Forum

About Trusteer

Trusteer is the world’s leading provider of Secure Web Access services. The company offers a range of services that detect, block and remove attacks launched directly against endpoints such as Man in the Browser, Man in the Middle and Phishing. Trusteer services are being used by leading financial organizations and enterprises in North America and Europe, and by tens of millions of their employees and customers to secure web access from mobile devices, tablets and computers to sensitive applications such as webmail, online payment, and online banking. HSBC, Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland, SunTrust, Fifth Third, ING DIRECT, and BMO Financial Group are just a few of the companies using Trusteer’s technology. Trusteer is a privately held corporation led by former executives from RSA Security, Imperva, and Juniper. Follow us on www.Twitter.com/Trusteer. For more information about our services, please visit www.trusteer.com.

Source: Eskenzi PR