Atom bank to host sleep out to tackle homelessness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday 14th November

Atom bank to host sleep out to tackle homelessness

Atom bank to host sleep out to tackle homelessness in the North East

Employees of the Durham-based bank will give up their beds for a night to take part in the Mortgage Sleep Out, which aims to bring together the mortgage industry to raise awareness on the growing issue of homelessness across the UK.

Over 1,000 participants have already shown their support and events will take place across the UK on Friday 30th November in a national effort to raise money for End Youth Homelessness (EYH).

Maria Harris, Director of Intermediary Lending at Atom bank said: “Tackling homelessness in the North-East is a cause that’s very close to Atom’s heart. Our exec team has taken part in the CEO Sleepout in Newcastle for the last three years, spending one night in subzero temperatures to contemplate how people do this every day. This brings home exactly how fortunate we are to have a safe home to go back to every evening.”

“Many of us are based in Durham but spend a lot of our time travelling to London and other parts of the UK where the level of visible homelessness is heart-breaking. Although we won’t be sleeping outside, homelessness on the streets is just the tip of the iceberg and other forms such as sofa surfing and squatting makes the issue bigger than we think. Giving up our beds for one night is a small price to pay to make a big difference.”

The idea of Mortgage Sleep Out soon gathered momentum after Brightstar CEO Rob Jupp and Maria discussed the problem of homelessness on Twitter and suggested a fundraising event.

In the run up to the event Atom will also be taking part in a whole host of fundraising activities to raise money for End Youth Homelessness such as a step competition, bake sale and shelter building for anyone unable to make the big event. To visit Atom bank’s JustGiving page please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/atombanksleepout

ENDS

Note to Editors

After securing its banking license in June 2015, Atom bank launched operations in April 2016, offering market-leading Fixed Saver accounts and secured business lending for small and mediumsized enterprises (‘SMEs’). From the start, Atom set out to build a customer- driven bank, designed to meet their new needs and optimised for mobile technologies.

Atom bank launched its first mobile mortgage product a year ago and has recently announced it has taken £1.3bn of deposits and has now lent £1.2bn to small businesses and homeowners.

The Atom executive team are highly experienced, having built and run some of the most well respected banks in the UK. CEO Mark Mullen has 25 years’ experience in the sector and was previously CEO at the multi- award winning telephone and internet bank first direct. The team are supported by a strong non-exec board, which includes newly appointed Chair, Bridget Rosewell. Bridget has also been the chair of Atom’s audit committee since 2014. She has an economics background and is also Chairman of the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency and on the board of Network Rail as well as a Commissioner with the National Infrastructure Commission.

Atom bank are here to change banking, creating a disruptive and digital bank, keeping costs low and passing back the value to its customers. The Atom app is at the heart of the bank, with a 24/7 support team on hand to help with any customer queries through phone, chat, email and social media, working out of their Durham HQ.

Since its creation in April 2014, Atom has:

• Raised almost £400m of equity capital through the support of private and institutional investors, including BBVA, Woodford Investment Management and Toscafund Asset Management
• Built a highly motivated and experienced team of around 300 permanent employees
• Been ranked 8th in KPMG’s ‘Global 2017 Fintech 100’ listing, and uniquely in the EU have been top10 in this listing for the last three years.
• Ranked 1st in Tech World’s Digital Challengers list
• Ranked 14th in LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’
• Voted the UK’s most recommended bank
• Industry leading NPS scores in relation to Savings Product and Savings App Journey of 73%
• Trustpilot score of 5/5
• 98% of customers said they would recommend us on Reevoo
• Established a global network of partners and suppliers
• Launched 1, 2, 3 and 5 Year market-leading Fixed Saver accounts - Atom has nearly £1.3bn in deposits so far
• Launched Digital Mortgages by Atom bank, offering secured lending to SMEs and residential mortgage products - Atom has loaned around £1.2bn to date
• will.i.am joined Atom bank as a Strategic Board Advisor, giving an external perspective on culture, community and technology
• Partnered with Deposit Solutions and passported its deposit taking licence to Germany to access German retail savings market to diversify funding options and increase deposits
• Announced a four year STEM partnership with the Prince’s Trust in North East England
• Signed up to the Women in Finance Charter in 2016 and the Tech Talent Charter in 2017

About Mortgage Sleep Out

The Mortgage Sleep Out aims to bring together the mortgage industry in one combined voice to raise awareness on the growing plight of homelessness across the UK and raise the vital funds to support two national charities in their work to eradicate homelessness. Over 50 businesses across the UK have already shown their support and will host their own sleep out event on Friday 30th November in a national effort to raise money for End Youth Homelessness (EYH).

You can register your interest on the Mortgage Sleep Out website here and keep up with the latest news and goings on from Mortgage Sleep Out on Twitter here.

About End Youth Homelessness (EYH) Before EYH was established, there was no UK-wide organisation for helping homeless young people. End Youth Homelessness is a UK-wide network of local charities that have joined forces to tackle youth homelessness together. It provides a national platform to raise awareness, share experience and generate voluntary income. The funds they raise help their members to increase capacity, services and sustainability in extremely challenging times. Their member charities house and support over 26,000 young people facing homelessness. Centrepoint is the designated Administrator of End Youth Homelessness.