Isle of Man Bank Owned by Brexiteer Receives City License

British billionaire investor Jim Mellon made his fortune in Russia, cashing in on a wave of privatization. Photo: Geoff Pugh

Island Man Bank, owned by Brexiteer Jim Mellon, has received a city license that will allow it to accept deposits in the UK.

Conister Bank, a subsidiary of Mr Mellon's Manx Financial Group, has been cleared by England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to accept deposits in a bid to improve its balance sheet.

Manx Financial, which is listed on the small London market Aim, jumped almost 6% to 16.7p on Monday. values ​​the group at £19.2m.

Mr Mellon, a British billionaire investor based on the Isle of Man, donated around £100,000 to Arron's Leave.EU pro-Brexit campaign Banks and Richard Tice in 2015.

He also introduced Mr Banks to Nigel Farage, who was later dubbed the «bad boys of Brexit».

Mr Mellon introduced Nigel Farage to Arron Banks ahead of the Brexit referendum Photo: Steve Finn

In 2015, Mellon told The Telegraph: «I think the vote will be much narrower than expected because as we get closer to the referendum the arguments that will be put forward by supporters “against” will be very strong.

< p>“I think the main argument is: 'Let's just be brave, let's go into the unknown and see if we can become a fast-growing country like the Far East.' I don't think there's anything that can be stopped. we benefit from it.”

Mr. Mellon began his career as a fund manager in Hong Kong and made his fortune in Russia by buying up stock coupons from local traders ahead of a series of major privatizations.

He is credited with predicting the 2008 financial crisis. before this happened, publishing a book in 2005 called «Wake Up!» Survive and thrive in the coming economic crisis.

Manx Financial was previously part-owned by Mr Banks, who sold his stake in the group in 2020.

Douglas Grant, Conister-based chief executive , said: “Receiving PRA approval for our UK branch to accept deposits not only serves as confirmation of our growth strategy from both our primary regulator and UK regulators, but also marks an important milestone in the group's development.»< /p >

“The authorization will give Conister access to deposits in the UK, complementing the liquidity received from its loyal depositors in the Isle of Man. We will use this additional liquidity to expand our record lending volume in the first half of this year, as we expect to issue a record £0.4 billion of loans this year.»