Digital challenger bank Atom is looking to do a deal with a high street lender to enable customers to deposit cheques at a bank branch in advance of the roll-out of full digital image capture in the UK.
The North East-based virtual bank is expected to receive a license from the Bank of England to begin operations later this month and has made much of its credentials as a smarter, online-only, alternative to Britain's biggest banks.
However, according to the Mail on Sunday, the bank is looking to strike a temporary deal with an established player to enable customers to deposit cheques on the high street. The paper blamed a technology glitch in the bank's own payments platform for the move.
Atom co-founder Mark Mullen disputes the Mail's 'technology glitch' slant on the story - although not the branch talks - claiming that the startup is just responding to customer demand.
The bank has since issued its own statement in response to the Mail article: “We can confirm that there is absolutely no technical issue with either Atom Bank or the Cheque and Credit Card Clearing Company. The Mail on Sunday unfortunately decided to publish an incorrect article, suggesting that the long known fact the Cheque and Credit Card Clearing Company has set a timeframe of 31 July 2016 until the UK banking system can process digital cheque imaging is a ‘technical issue’. It is not. This fact is well known to us (as it is to anyone within the banking industry) and we have planned accordingly. Anything suggesting there is a technical issue with our systems is unfounded and misleading.”