Metro Bank (MTRO) has been left more than £2m out of pocket after the collapse of Orla Kiely, the fashion brand favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge and model Alexa Chung. “It is not anticipated that the secured creditors [Metro] will be paid in full,” administrators from Quantuma have said. They added that having spoken to other creditors, Orla Kiely’s administration has now been extended and is expected to end in September 2020. It collapsed in September last year. Some cash is trickling in as royalties from one of its subsidiaries, Killoyn Stem, which is responsible for the brand’s licence agreements with factories, according to a Companies House report.
Banks should face a regulatory crackdown and higher industry levies to tackle an “unacceptable” surge in IT failures that have caused chaos for millions of online banking customers, MPs said on Monday. The Treasury Select Committee’s call follows high-profile disruption at a string of players including Barclays (BARC), Visa Europe and – most notoriously – challenger bank TSB – amid increasing dependence on online banking. Almost three-quarters of UK adults now use online banking, while the number of bank branches has halved to about 11,000 since the mid-1980s.
Questor: back the self‑help strategy of the new chief executive and take a stake in Rotork (ROR). Questor share tip: the control systems company hopes to recapture its glory days when margins peaked at 26%, says James Ashton
