Metro Bank chairman Vernon Hill on Monday won the backing of a key investor as he tries to persuade shareholders to cough up £350 million to fill a hole in the accounts.
Last week Metro Bank said it wanted to raise the cash after admitting a batch of property loans had been wrongly recorded in the accounts and are riskier than it had been reporting.
That cash call was the second in a few months, putting pressure on Hill and chief executive Craig Donaldson.
Metro Bank’s early backers include hedge fund king Steve Cohen and luxury homebuilder Bruce Toll.
Toll, who controls 3% of the shares, told Bloomberg that he backs Hill. “I’ve known him for years and I’ve complete faith in him, that’s all I can say.”
The shares moved up 4% to 950p. They peaked at over 4000p a year ago.
