Challenger banks were meant to shake up the Big Four and inject a much-needed dose of competition into the stale banking market.
Their impact has been underwhelming. Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds still dominate. Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG), owner of Virgin Money, is one of the few to have made a dent.
Unlike most of its rivals, CYBG has scale, which is vital for reducing costs. It has a chunky asset base, with a £61bn mortgage book that makes up the bulk of its £73bn total lending. By comparison, rival challenger Metro has a total loan book of just £15bn.
Under David Duffy, CYBG scaled up by acquiring Virgin Money last year for £1.7bn. Analysts expect Duffy to go on