Metro Bank freezes bonuses as accounting probe continues

Shares worth about £480,000 had been due to chief executive Craig Donaldson, and about £250,000 each for finance director David Arden and his predecessor Mike Brierley.

However, The Times newspaper has reported that a decision was taken to hold back the awards after the high street bank admitted in January that it had not properly measured the risk attached to some lending.

Metro plans to raise £350m and faces inquiries by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England.

The Times report cites details published in Metro’s annual report released last week ahead of the quarterly results this Wednesday.

It said the vestings would be frozen “pending further internal analysis and any external investigations”.

The report showed that Donaldson’s pay fell to £800,000 from £1.5m last year — as expected, because he waived his bonus.

Founded by Anthony Thomson and Vernon Hill in 2010, at its launch Metro was the first new high street bank to launch in the United Kingdom in over 150 years.

Its share price has sunk from £22 to about 800p since the loan-book problem was revealed.