Chairman of Metro Bank appointed Honorary Visiting Professor

Vernon W. Hill II, Chairman and Founder of Metro Bank, has been appointed as an Honorary Visiting Professor of Practice in Retail Banking by Cass Business School, City University London – the first of its kind.

Hill is frequently credited with re-inventing retail banking in the United States having founded Commerce Bank in 1973 and built it into one of the largest banks in America with 14,000 colleagues and 440 stores. It was purchased in 2007 by TD Financial for $8.5 billion.

In 2010, he founded Metro Bank - the first new high-street bank to open in the UK for more than 100 years. It now has 40 stores across Greater London and the South East and continues to expand rapidly, recently listing on the London Stock Exchange with a market value of £1.6 billion.

Hill visited Cass to accept the Honorary Visiting Professorship and meet with Dean, Professor Marianne Lewis, Dr Sionade Robinson and members of the current MBA cohort.

Professor Lewis commented: “We are delighted to announce Vernon Hill as our first Honorary Visiting Professor in Retail Banking.  Cass is located in the heart of London and the School has built strong relationships with the extraordinary organisations that surround us through exchanges of knowledge, education and the career progression of our graduates. It is a pleasure to welcome Vernon Hill, the founder of another extraordinary organisation, into the Cass community”.

Hill graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 with a degree in economics. He was aged just 26 when he launched Commerce Bank.

Commenting on his appointment he said: “It is a true honour to be recognised by such a well-respected institution as Cass Business School. Our model of building ‘fans not customers’ matches the ability of Cass to blend excellence, experience and opportunity.”

As an Honorary Visiting Professor at Cass, Hill will collaborate with the School on research and education. He has already developed a teaching case with Dr Sionade Robinson, Associate Dean of MBA Programmes called ‘Metro Bank and the Tournament of Challengers.’

Dr Sionade Robinson says that Hill brings a wealth of unique experience to Cass: “Vernon’s achievements demonstrate an expertise right across the MBA curriculum – strategy, operations, marketing, leadership and entrepreneurship. Our students will gain a huge amount from his appointment. Metro Bank has shaken up retail banking and his relentless focus on creating value for customers is inspiring.”

Hill will sit on the Cass Strategic Advisory Board and act as a Senior Advisor to the annual Cass MBA London Symposium, where he was a keynote speaker in 2015. He delivered a talk entitled “Fans Not Customers” which explored why the model of the American community bank was a success and why, despite being in the midst of a financial crisis, the British public readily welcomed a new bank.