Image copyright Bill Cramer © Wonderful Machine Inc. Metro Bank has announced that its controversial chairman and founder Vernon Hill is leaving the embattled lender .
The bank said in July that Mr Hill would be stepping down as chairman but would stay on as both a non-executive director and president.
However, Metro Bank now said he will leave by 31 December.
Last week, the company was forced to abandon plans to raise £ 250 m, sending its shares crashing to a record low.
The bank has been under pressure since it revealed a £ 900 m accounting error at the beginning of the year.
Mr Hill, an American who set up Metro Bank in 2010, said earlier this year that he would “probably die” in the role of chairman.
The lender has already begun searching fo r Mr Hill’s replacement, which it said was “progressing well”.
It added that if it does not find a new chair by the time Mr Hill is scheduled to leave, it will appoint one of its non-executive directors to the role on an interim basis.
In January, Metro Bank disclosed it had misclassified loans that it made to companies and landlords.
The Bank of England’s regulatory arm and the Financial Conduct Authority, the City watchdog, both began investigations into Metro Bank.
Since then, its profits have fallen sharply after customers withdrew £ 2bn worth of deposits over the six months to June.
The lender subsequently admitted in the prospectus for its now failed £ 250 m debt issue that both probes had been expanded to include senior members of management and warned that they could lead to “criminal and / or civil liability for the bank “.
It also said that” making redress, and the cost of any regulatory sanctions may involve significant expense. “
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