Britain’s challenger banks aren’t mounting much of a challenge any more

Inside Business: After the financial crisis it was hoped a fleet of scrappy new banks would shake up the market, but they’ve struggled to deliver

Virgin Money: the last challenger bank with a genuine punch? (Getty)

Britain’s so-called challenger banks are looking increasingly challenged.

After the financial crisis, the government talked about encouraging a fleet of scrappy new contenders to take on the big four or five (if you consider Santander, which we probably should).

One of them would be spun out of Lloyds, and one from the Royal Bank of Scotland, as a remedy for the fact that those two received billions of pounds of state aid in violation of EU rules when they were bailed out.