Startup clearing bank, the Bank of London, has raised £42 million in an over-subscribed funding round, which reportedly comes after its board were surprised to receive a winding-up petition from HMRC over unpaid taxes.
The tax bill has now been paid, according to reports, with a spokesperson saying the order resulted from an administrative delay.
The funding round was completed in August, the bank said, led by Luxembourg-based Mangrove Capital Partners, whose CEO Mark Tluszcz has sat on the Bank of London board since 2018.
Founder Anthony Watson last week stepped down as chief executive of the bank, moving to become a senior adviser and non-executive director of its holding company, where he joins Labour Party elder Lord Peter Mandelson.
Risk and compliance officer Stephen Bell was promoted to CEO.
Reports over the weekend suggested the startup, the first new British clearing bank created in the past 250 years, was rushing to restore regulators' and customers' confidence after the surprise winding up order.
Bank of London was launched in 2021 and now has more than 4,500 businesses and clients using its products and services, which are built around a "safer by design" approach that aims to ensure no business deposits are loaned, invested or leveraged, with all business funds held at the Bank of England and available on demand.