(Adds comments from CEO, details)
* CEO wants switching deadline cut to 24 hours
* Atom expects to launch later this year
* Bank will be digital with no branches
* Bank seeking further investment to fund lending
By Matt Scuffham and Steve Slater
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - New British banking venture Atomis targeting a 5 percent share of the personal current orchecking account market in Britain over the next five years,Chief Executive Mark Mullen said on Monday.
Atom, which plans to offer its services online and has nobranches, is one of a number of new banks also includingAldermore and OneSavings hoping to challenge the dominance ofthe country's biggest lenders, whose reputations have been hitby a series of scandals.
"I genuinely believe the UK banking market is at a tippingpoint for a variety of reasons," Mullen told the ReutersFinancial Regulation Summit. "Technology is a core driver, butit's the willingness and appetite to consider alternatives inlight of the banking crisis that plays into this environment."
Britons have historically been reluctant to switch banks andnew measures introduced to speed up the process have so far hada minimal impact. Mullen said that could change as more newbanks emerge.
"In an industry that is ripe for change you should not beafraid of achieving a 5 percent market penetration between nowand 2020. If you're good enough you should be able to do that,but it's a big ask," Mullen told Reuters.
Mullen said new rules requiring banks to enable customers toswitch accounts within seven working days could be cut to enablethem to do so within 24 hours. The regulator is alreadyconsidering lowering the limit to five working days.
"I don't see why we should wait five days. Five days to meis still too long," he said.
Atom was set up by Anthony Thomson, co-founder of MetroBank, Britain's first new retail lender for more than a century.
Thomson appointed Mullen to run Atom last year from FirstDirect, an online bank owned by HSBC, where he had beenchief executive.
The venture, headquartered in Durham, northeast England, isin talks with Britain's financial regulator to obtain a bankinglicence and hopes to be up and running by year end.
It has raised 25 million pounds ($39 million) from investorsincluding leading British fund manager Neil Woodford to designand build the bank and Mullen said it is seeking multiples ofthat to fund its lending.
Regulators are keen to encourage competition to LloydsBanking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and Santander, which providearound 85 percent of personal current accounts.($1 = 0.6417 pounds) (Additional reporting by Steve Slater, Huw Jones and CarolynCohn; Editing by David Holmes)