Secure Trust Bank Regulatory News (STB)

PRESS RELEASE

5th October 2012

SECURE TRUST BANK ACCOUNT AWARDED FAIRBANKING ACCREDITATION

Secure Trust Bank today announced that it has been awarded a 4 Star Fairbanking Mark for its current account.

The Fairbanking Foundation, the not-for-profit charity dedicated to encourage banking institutions to improve the financial well-being of their customers, awarded the 4 Star Mark to Secure Trust Bank's current account which enables its customers to:

• stay informed about their balance and recent transactions through 24/7 telephony and internet services;

• improve their financial management by separating money used to pay regular bills from money that can be spent on things of customer's choosing;

• better understand their spending habits and how this changes over time;

• Set budgets for different spending categories and track against it to see how they progress through the month;

• show their overall income and spending and how that changes over time, potentially identifying opportunities to save money;

• Avoid penal rates of debit interest and punitive unpaid / paid referral fees;

• Generate cash rewards of up to 4% based on their use of their prepaid Mastercard at selected High St retailers

Paul Lynam, Chief Executive Officer of Secure Trust Bank, said:

"Secure Trust Bank is committed to helping our customers by providing them with simple, straight forward, value for money banking solutions. This approach has helped us increase overall customer numbers by 58% for the 12 months ending June 2012.

"We are delighted to receive the Fairbanking Foundation 4 Star Mark and are encouraged that the Foundation's research shows the features of our current account product are contributing towards people's financial well-being. We continually strive to improve our current account proposition and expect to be able to advise our customers of further enhancements very shortly".

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITORS

Secure Trust Bank PLC

Secure Trust Bank PLC is an established UK AIM quoted retail bank. Its core business is to provide banking services, including a range of lending products, deposit and fee-based current accounts, to UK customers who may not be adequately served by other banks.

The Company, which was incorporated in 1954, operates predominantly from its head office in Solihull, West Midlands and also operates under the Moneyway brand. The Company acquired Everyday Loans, a provider of unsecured loans, in June 2012. Secure Trust Bank has been a subsidiary of Arbuthnot Banking Group since 1985.The Company's diversified lending portfolio focuses on motor finance, retail point of sale finance and unsecured personal loans. Its lending is entirely funded by customer deposits, with no exposure to wholesale funding. Retail point of sale finance includes lending solutions for store and online retailers and an "e"-tailer proposition which is distributed through partnership with Pay4Later.

Further information regarding the Secure Trust Bank current account can be found at

 http://www.securetrustbank.com/current-account/basic-bank-account

The Secure Trust Bank Fairbanking Foundation Mark comes into effect as from 1st December 2012.

The Fairbanking Foundation

The Fairbanking Foundation is a not-for-profit, research-based charity (number 1125769) created to encourage and assist providers of banking products to improve the financial well-being of their customers.

Banks and Building Societies are increasingly seen as having a duty to act in the common good of the country. As water companies are obliged to supply water that is good for their customers, so bank products should be good for theirs. The fundamental nature of this duty has been made clear by the recent banking crisis and the support given to many of the UK's biggest banks.

Further information and contact details for The Fairbanking Foundation can be found at www.fairbanking.org.uk.

Media Enquiries:

Secure Trust Bank PLC

Paul Lynam, Chief Executive Officer 0121 693 9100

Neeraj Kapur Chief Finance Officer

David Marshall, Communications Director 020 7012 2432

Mobile: 07502 285 835

e-mail: davidmarshall@arbuthnot.co.uk 

Fairbanking Foundation

Martin Campbell Mobile: 07802 634 695

e-mail: martin.campbell@fairbanking.org.uk