A new independent bank is set to open in Cambridge and begin lending to local businesses.

The bank which will be known as the “Cambridge Commercial Lending Company” (CCLC) will hold £50 million initially, a sum expected to increase quickly with investors’ interest.

Chairman Nigel Brown says it will pride itself upon competitive rates, a lack of “baggage” and “doing something” for the Cambridge area.

Brown, who is soon to become the county’s High Sheriff, is also Chairman of CCLC’s board. Describing the next steps in acquiring bank status Brown said, “Our application to the Financial Services Authority...will take about six months to come through".

However, despite having to wait for official bank status, the company will still start lending money to local commercial traders within a few weeks.

Peregrine Banbury, previously head of private banking at Coutts, has been named Chief Executive of the bank. According to Brown, Banbury has been talking to lawyers in London this week to finalise plans.

Reports indicate that Trinity Hall is set to provide the premises for the new bank. Brown said that a meeting this week at Trinity Hall finalised CCLC plans. However, Paul ffolkes Davis, Bursar and Steward of Trinity Hall, told Varsity that the bank is “just an idea with no company formed or directors appointed”.

Davis refuted the suggestion that Trinity Hall is to be affiliated with the bank in any way, clarifying that “one of the spaces the new venture could rent is some office accommodation that is currently unlet in a building Trinity Hall owns as part of its investment portfolio...I have no real idea whether it might prove suitable.”

Wherever it is situated, the bank aims to provide valuable capital to local Cambridge businesses. Brown, who also sits on the University of Cambridge’s Managing Council and chairs the Greater Cambridge Partnership, said that businesses within the technology sector are expected to benefit especially from the financial opportunities.

He explained, “[They] won't then have to rely on venture capital, which means giving away an equity stake,” he said.

Brown also stated that one of the unique selling points of the new bank will be its return to traditional banking. According to him, CCLC “will be putting the bank manager back in the business. He will be a proper manager. He won't be trying to flog products. Really the idea is to go back to the roots of local banking.”