CYBG axes deal with former Barclays boss following Virgin Money merger

The new owner of Virgin Money has cancelled the bank’s partnership with a technology company run by former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins.

CYBG, which also owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, axed the deal following its £1.7bn takeover of Virgin Money in September, Sky News reported.

Virgin Money had hired Jenkin's fintech start up 10X Banking to create a digital platform for the challenger bank, however the development was deemed unnecessary as CYBG has its own service, called "iB".

A CYBG spokesperson said: "10x Future Technologies has been a valuable partner to Virgin Money through its digital journey.

“However, since we first announced our proposed acquisition of Virgin Money we have been clear that we plan to use CYBG's existing iB technology platform – designed for the world of Open Banking – to support our 6 million customers.

“We have informed 10x of our intention to exit the agreement with Virgin Money. We wish the 10x team the very best for the future."

The acquisition, which was completed last month, saw merged companies become the UK’s sixth biggest bank with more than 6m customers, £84bn of assets and £70bn of customer loans.

A 10X spokesperson said: "We are in good shape, with a strong pipeline and many opportunities ahead of us.

"We remain focused on the continuing development of our technology platform, having recently carried out the first live real money and merchant transactions across our platform at the end of October. That is a huge milestone in our journey we are all very proud of.

"We are attracting interest from financial services companies in many markets – from established banks, large and small and new market entrants.

"We’ve signed additional clients and are in ongoing discussions with a number of other businesses who want to transform financial services using our 10x technology.

"Further updates will reflect the market needs of the businesses we are working with."