Founded by Anthony Watson, a former chief information officer at both Nike and Barclays, The Bank of London in November received its first bank licence as the 6th principal clearing bank of the UK - becoming only the second new clearing bank in more than 250 years.

Representing a 'multi-million found investment', the new Centre of Excellence in Northern ireland has already onboarded 34 new staff, with 54 further roles currently being advertised. This is expected to generate around £20 million worth of annual salaries for the local economy when all the roles are in place.

Says Watson: “To build the future of finance, we need to be where the future is. Belfast is now the UK’s gateway city to the European Union, and this coupled with Belfast’s exceptional fintech talent across multiple disciplines, makes it the logical choice for The Bank of London’s Centre of Excellence to power our UK expansion.”

The new bank operates on three fronts: taking on established banks in the market for clearing and settlement; delivering transactions banking services for the corporate market; and fielding a banking-as-a-service offfering for companies wanting to embed payments in into thier products.

The bank has raised $120m to date, and its latest $90m funding round was led by New York-based investor ForgeLight, with follow-on investment from existing backers 14W Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners.

With a $1.1 billion valuation, it is the first pre-revenue bank in history to attain ‘unicorn’ status upon debut.

The Belfast office builds on the successful expansion of other strategic locations and technology hubs in London and New York.

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