Bank Of London Builds For The Innovation Economy

Tony Bullman joined Bank of London as CFO before stepping up to the role of CEO, giving him a close view of both the operational and external demands facing one of the UK's few clearing banks. In conversation with Brett Hurll, he discusses the transition into leadership, the bank's purpose-built infrastructure, the importance of safeguarding client funds at the Bank of England, and the opportunity to support fintechs, corporates and future digital asset platforms with banking services designed for a faster, more innovation-led financial economy.

Brett: You came into Bank of London as CFO and are now CEO. What changed in your understanding of the business from one seat to the other?

Tony: I joined in March 2025 as CFO, and my initial focus was on the financial aspects of the bank, finalising the 2023 financial statements, remediation of some finance pain points, and capital, which is always front of mind for a start-up bank. I also spent considerable time with regulators.

I would not say my understanding of the business changed dramatically. The CFO and CEO are always very close, and from day one I was a member of the ExCo and sat on the board. My first responsibility was the finance function, but because I sat in those forums, I was aware of everything happening across operations, risk and compliance.

The real transition has been about where I direct my energy. The CEO role is less operational. You delegate more while retaining full accountability. My focus has shifted towards stakeholder management: investors, regulators and clients. We recently went through a fundraising exercise, which involved numerous investor presentations and a full data room process. On the client side, events such as Pay360 at ExCeL give me direct exposure to the market. The external feedback has reaffirmed my belief that we have the right business model.

Brett: That external-facing role is very different from the finance function, which is generally more internal. It must help you test what you believe the business can offer the wider market.

Tony: It does. As CEO, I am ultimately accountable for everything. The point is to delegate more of the operational side while focusing on the external-facing side of the business.

Brett: From your standpoint, that makes the senior team critical. You need the right people around the table for finance, compliance, regulation and the other internal functions you are no longer running directly.

Tony: Exactly. We have done significant work on the ExCo, and I am very happy with where we are now. We are small, and in any start-up you cannot be siloed. If there is a problem, everyone chips in. Being regulated also means these are senior manager roles where the regulator must be comfortable with the individuals in position. It is something you simply have to get right.

Brett: Bank of London launched as a clearing bank from scratch, with no legacy, a new brand, new leadership and new capital. As one of only a small number of clearing banks in the UK, what does the business look like today compared with the initial pitch?

Tony: Very similar. The business model has stayed the same. Being a clearer is a privileged position. There are only a handful of clearers in the UK, of which we were 6thWe are purpose-built cloud native API first and we operate within the full regulatory and compliance framework. That idea has not changed.

What has changed is that we are increasingly moving into execution. We have streamlined the organisation, built a new leadership team with a flatter structure and greater direct accountability, and invested heavily in governance and compliance. We have not pivoted away from anything. It is now about maturing the business and delivering the plan.

Brett: The Developer Studio is now there, and the promise is that businesses can build in minutes and launch in weeks. What does that actually mean in practice for a CFO or a payments director sitting inside a corporate or fintech?

Tony: We provide access to UK payment rails in a way the existing large clearers often cannot match. They are behemoths, and working through them is rarely frictionless. We have a purpose-built platform, accessible through APIs, with a sandbox that enables agile, fast product development. Clients have told us directly that our connectivity is best in class and that the sandbox is user-friendly and easy for their development teams to navigate. We know it works because our clients have told us it does.

But it is not only about clearing. Liquidity matters too. A CFO or payments director needs to know that client funds are safeguarded, that their operation is scalable, and that their banking partner can grow with them. Building payments infrastructure from scratch is complex and expensive. What we try to do is take on that heavy lifting so that the client experience is as seamless as possible.

Brett: You serve banks, corporates, fintechs, financial intermediaries and pre-regulated entities. Are those really the same proposition for you, or are you effectively building five different banks under one roof?

Tony: No. It is one bank, built for the innovation economy. We have a core product set. Some clients will use all of it, others only part. We do not tailor products individually for every client, but we do listen. If there is a gap we can address responsibly and compliantly, we will look at it. We want to be agile and competitive in delivery. That is part of what we offer.

Brett: On client funds and safeguarding, as I understand it, funds are held at the Bank of England, not on your balance sheet. That sounds simple, but most banks do not do that. Why not, and what does it cost you commercially to hold that line?

Tony: We do not leverage. We do not have a loan book. Deposits placed with us sit at the Bank of England. That means we cannot compete on interest rates with banks that generate margins through lending, but clients receive something different in return. No credit risk, no duration mismatch and no real liquidity stress. When markets become strained, the risks that affect other institutions simply do not apply to us in the same way.

What is interesting is that many clients value that security more than the interest differential. They deposit with us precisely because of the protection, not despite the trade-off.

One way to understand the model is to think about a sterling stablecoin issuer. We are not going to issue stablecoin. What we would want to be is the banking partner to those who do. If a stablecoin issuer places the sterling fiat backing their coin with us, it sits at the Bank of England, giving the people holding those stablecoins top-quality security. That is the role we see for ourselves going forward.

Brett: You have said publicly that the bank intends to move beyond sterling into dollars and euros, and you have mentioned digital assets. Which of those keeps you up at night, and which do you think people underestimate most?

Tony: Multi-currency does not keep me awake. We do not currently have a licence to clear dollars or euros, so we would partner with a correspondent bank to offer that. We are in conversations, and I think we will get there because the client demand is clear.

Digital assets are more interesting and more complex. Whatever happens, they are coming, and we need to be positioned. We are not going to hold digital assets on our balance sheet, issue crypto or trade them. But we can be the bank for those platforms: crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers, digital asset platforms. That sits entirely within our model. It is simply a different type of client.

The big issue is financial crime and anti-money laundering. The regulatory framework is still developing. There are draft proposals expected by the end of June, with the aim of formalising things by year-end. The bar will be high, and rightly so. But I would like Bank of London to be part of that space, not by trading or warehousing assets, but by being the bank to those who do.

Brett: It is one of those seismic changes that is coming. Regulators are trying to get hold of it, and the UK will not want to be left behind in a market that is already significant and could become much bigger.

Tony: I think you are right. I was at a crypto asset conference earlier this year, and the clear view was that the US and Asia are leading, with Europe and the UK at risk of falling behind. There is recognition of that now. 

Brett: Europe has the added challenge of 27 different voices around the table.

Tony: Exactly, and that is something we hear in our own conversations about stablecoin. My question to one group was why sterling and not euro. Their answer was straightforward. With euro you are dealing with 27 different concerns and inputs. With sterling, you have one regulator. That makes it considerably more practical.

Brett: You have worked at some of the world's largest banks. What is the one thing you have deliberately chosen not to bring with you to Bank of London, and why?

Tony: Legacy infrastructure, and the complexity and slowness that come with it. The big banks have systems that have been sitting there for 25 or 30 years, and no one fully knows what will happen if you switch something off. That is a genuine burden. It prevents agility and slows decision-making considerably.

We cannot afford to be like that. We want to bank the innovation economy, and that requires being streamlined and quick. Our ExCo meets three times a week at nine in the morning. We are all on one floor. Because we are small and well-defined, each of us has a good understanding of the others' mandates. We are dynamic, but not at the cost of compliance or control.

Brett: The market you compete in, wholesale payment infrastructure and agency banking, is getting more crowded. Where is Bank of London's defensible ground, and how do you protect it?

Tony: Our model itself. One hundred per cent of deposits safeguarded at the Bank of England. Direct clearing access with no intermediary and no extra fee. Cloud-based, API-driven infrastructure with no legacy drag. When you put all of that together, it is a genuinely distinctive combination.

To maintain it, we have to keep investing. We are moving to a new banking platform, implementing a new KYC and transaction monitoring system, and upgrading our general ledger. Even at our stage, we are already enhancing the infrastructure. And we listen constantly. There is no point offering something nobody wants.

Brett: When this chapter of the Bank of London story is written, what would you want the headline to be?

Tony: That we were innovative and forward-thinking, and that we played a real role in modernising payment infrastructure. That we helped new businesses in the innovation economy grow and succeed by providing flexible, reliable banking infrastructure. And that we did it as a genuine partner, not a vendor. When I speak to potential clients, many of them are new businesses too. So I say, let us grow together. I think that resonates, and I would like it to be the legacy.

Brett: From the traction you have had in the market, there is clearly a space for you. There are clients embedded with legacy infrastructure businesses, and there is a lot of opportunity for a bank built around a different type of model.

Tony: There is a real opportunity, and we hear it very clearly when we talk to clients. We have a steady stream of people coming into our office, which tells its own story. And we have a great name. Bank of London. When we go to conferences, people stop at the stand and ask what we do. That gives us a head start. We are new, we are agile, and we want to be the banking partner for businesses that are exactly the same. That is the opportunity.

Brett: Tony, thank you for your time. It has been a very useful discussion, and I appreciate you setting out the model so clearly.

 

Brett Hurll, Executive Editor at Global Financial Market Review, draws on over 35 years of international experience across technology and finance sectors, providing readers with sharp analysis and unique perspectives on emerging trends, market shifts, and the complex interplay between global business and political dynamics. His extensive background and senior leadership role position him as a trusted voice on financial markets and economic developments.  If you have an interesting editorial reach out to our team at editoral@gfmreview.com