New bank to open 12 Liverpool city region branches

A new bank aimed at retail and small business customers will open 60 North West branches, including 12 in Liverpool city region, in a multi-million pound investment. Tony McDonough reports

Dave Burke, who will oversee the North West rollout of NW Mutual

A new bank being set up in the North West of England will look to reverse the industry trend by opening new high street branches.

NW Mutual is a mutual bank aimed at retail and small business customers. It plans to open 60 new branches across the region including 12 in Merseyside, 16 in Lancashire, 20-plus in Greater Manchester, 10 in Cheshire and six in Cumbria.

Its Liverpool city region branches will be in Bebington, Birkenhead, Bootle, Crosby, Formby, Huyton, Kirkby, Knowsley, Liverpool, Prescot, Speke, St Helens. In Cheshire the branches will be in Ellesmere Port, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich, Runcorn, Warrington, Widnes and Winsford.

Having already registered NW Mutual with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), regulator of financial services firms and markets in the UK, the venture is preparing a banking licence application to submit to the Bank of England in late 2025.

If the licence is granted, the first bricks and mortar branch is planned to open in the third quarter of 2026, with a full roll-out proposed for the first quarter of 2027. A headquarters at a yet-to-be announced location will open in 2025.

Its proposed ‘bricks, clicks and flicks’ business model of NW Mutual will deliver hi-tech and staffed branches, complemented by mobile and online banking.

It will provide retail and small and medium-sized enterprise customers with a full range of financial products and services.

This new bank will be headed by senior financial services executive Dave Burke, who was recently hired by NW Mutual to oversee the launch. About £1m has been invested to build the systems and financial model and prepare the banking licence application.

Dave said: “When our plans are finalised, NW Mutual will open approximately 60 branches across the North West, with the first branch and head office also in the region.

“Our aim is to provide access to as many people and businesses in the north west as possible, with 95% of residents and small and medium-sized businesses within a 30-minute drive to a branch.

“While we have specific locations in mind to achieve this, we also want to listen to the people and businesses of the region and welcome thoughts and suggestions on branch locations.”

Consumer group Which? said banks and building societies had closed a total of 6,266 branches since January 2015, equating to about 53 closures every month. NW Mutual is looking to reverse that trend.

“Our market research, supported by a large body of public research and information, shows a proven need and demand for a bank that’s trustworthy, democratic, ethical, deeply rooted in the North West,” added Dave.

“The region is more than capable and large enough to create and sustain a prosperous bank. When we achieve our goals, our mutual bank will recycle more than £900m of money back into the region.”

David Milner, chair of NW Mutual Ltd, is an executive and non-executive director of regulated financial services companies, including being chairman of Dudley Building Society and Nottingham Imperial Building Society.

Non-executive director James Moore has more than 25 years of boardroom experience with private and public businesses in sectors including financial services in the UK, China, Europe and Africa while also founding the Community Savings Bank Association.

They are in the process of recruiting other senior executives to the board of NW Mutual including a finance director.

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