Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Still leaking
https://news.sky.com/story/troubled-metro-bank-kicks-off-3bn-mortgage-book-sale-12977581
I think they sell part of their loan book now to another bank and then show profit albeit a smaller amount and then aim for growth next year but what the board needs to do is communicate their intentions. Set out a plan for when they'll finance, right now they seem like opportunists.
They have another £250m of notes that needs refinancing in 2028(?).
It could be they want £250m and they planned on announcing the raise after the full year results which should show them profitable or at break even and the funds were to drive growth.
The BoE/PRA could easily reduce their MREL on a temporary basis which would allay market concerns. They are part of the problem as the regulatory capital burden on smaller banks is disproportionate and they know this because there were discussions to reduce it for smaller banks but the BoE and PRA move at a snails pace.
That's one way to get a face to face appointment with the BoE/PRA.
The thing that sucks about this is, they were always going to have to refinance the £350m before October 2024. Other than that nothing has changed, so they are being aggressively targeted for doing the obvious.
The best outcome would be, Metro Bank release a RNS tomorrow reassuring the markets, produce solid numbers for next Trading Update, then carry on exploring their options. All of this is speculative and they will have explored options before, it’s the uncertainty that spooks markets. Investor Relations and the board need to step up.