Atom Announces Company Headquarters in Durham City

The team behind Atom – the challenger bank that is designed for digital – has decided to headquarter the company in Durham City.

The business will create up to 400 jobs as it builds a bank, serving customers across the UK from premises in the City’s Aykley Heads area.

The decision follows a detailed search across North East England to find the best location for the launch and growth of the business.

Initially the firm will occupy space within the council owned Northumbria House and expand to fill the building before it launches to customers in the first half of 2015.

Anthony Thomson, Chairman of the Atom Board, said: “This is a great step forward for Atom, Durham has the perfect combination of accessibility, talent and a fantastic working environment for a business that needs to challenge an industry and offer a great level of service all day, every day. Having settled on Durham as the ideal location for Atom, we found the County Council and Business Durham to be welcoming, forward looking and able to reach decisions quickly to help us into premises. This and the team is looking forward to building more and deeper links across the region in the coming months and years.”

Cllr Simon Henig, Lead of Durham County Council, said: “This is a very significant step in the development of what is a key site in the County Durham Plan; a site which we believe has the potential to be a powerful economic driver for the county and wider region. “Alongside the creation of hundreds of jobs this sends a very strong message that Durham is a forward thinking, business-minded county ready and waiting to do what it takes to help companies deliver on their ambitions”.

Editors notes: Atom isn’t yet a bank, but we’d like to be. So we’re applying to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to become one.

Founded a year ago and based in the City of Durham, we have a growing team of people drawn from across the country working with local and national partners in the UK to help bring pioneering technology to Europe for the first time. We are building the UK’s first bank designed specifically for mobile digital technologies offering all day, every day banking and a very efficient cost model.

We have a highly experienced executive team, led by CEO Mark Mullen who has 25 years’ experience in commercial and retail banking and was previously CEO at the multi-award winning telephone and internet bank, first direct. He is supported by Dave McCarthy, Edward Twiddy, Stewart Bromley, Lisa Wood, Craig Iley, Rachel McLauchlen, Brian Seal, Andy Givens, Paul Hanks and Richard Baker – a senior team drawn from across the financial services and related industries.

We have a strong non-exec board; our Chairman Anthony Thomson was founder and former Chairman at Metro Bank. He is also Chairman of the Financial Services Forum, the UK’s leading membership organisation for senior FS industry executives and Chairman of the National Skills Academy for Financial Services, a national charity. Anthony is joined by non-executive directors Bridget Rosewell OBE, Patricia Jackson, John Deane and Jon Hogan.