Virgin Money is a
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
ing and
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
brand operating in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
The Virgin Money brand was founded by
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed ...
in March 1995. It was originally known as Virgin Direct, and pioneered index tracking by launching a value
personal equity plan
A personal equity plan (PEP) was a form of tax-privileged investment account in the United Kingdom, available between 1986 and 1999.
History
The plans were introduced by Nigel Lawson in the 1986 budget to encourage equity ownership among the wide ...
into the market. In the 2000s Virgin Money expanded its operations around the world. Virgin Money announced plans to become a retail bank, and attempted to purchase
Northern Rock
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...
in 2007 before it was nationalised by the
British Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
. Virgin applied for its own banking licence from the Financial Services Authority in 2009, and gained one through the acquisition of
Church House Trust the following year. Virgin bought Northern Rock in January 2012 and rebranded the business as Virgin Money.
In June 2018, Virgin Money agreed to a takeover by CYBG plc which was completed in October 2018. Virgin Money was merged into
Clydesdale Bank plc
Clydesdale Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1838, and is the only former Scottish bank which retains its UK headquarters in Scotland, following the implosions in 2008 of the Ba ...
on 21 October 2019, continuing as a trading name and operating under Clydesdale Bank plc's banking licence. It is planned that
Virgin Money UK plc will phase out the
Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland.
In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for ...
,
Yorkshire Bank and
B brands in favour of the Virgin Money brand.
History
Formation
Virgin Money UK was launched as Virgin Direct Personal Financial Services in partnership with
Norwich Union
Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...
on 3 March 1995 offering
personal equity plan
A personal equity plan (PEP) was a form of tax-privileged investment account in the United Kingdom, available between 1986 and 1999.
History
The plans were introduced by Nigel Lawson in the 1986 budget to encourage equity ownership among the wide ...
s and launched
Virgin One, in a partnership with the
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...
(RBS), in 1997. That year, Australia's
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bought Norwich Union's 50% stake in Virgin Direct. In 2000, virginmoney.com was launched as a
price comparison
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acqu ...
website. RBS bought out Virgin's stake in the One Account joint venture in 2001.
In 2002, Virgin Direct merged with virginmoney.com to form the current company. Virgin Money expanded its operations around the world in the 2000s. The
Virgin Group
Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970.
Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...
took 100% ownership of Virgin Money in April 2004, buying the remaining 50% stake for £90 million from
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In 2007, Virgin made a bid to acquire the
Northern Rock
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...
bank; this initial bid failed. In an interview with ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' on 9 March 2009, Branson stated that he still hoped that Virgin Money would expand its operations into the banking sector, saying "We are going to get back into the mortgage business and we will become a bank either by acquisition or by getting our own banking licence. You will see us become a consumer bank within the next couple of years."
In October 2009, Virgin Money applied to the
Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
for a full banking licence. In February 2011 they announced their intention to lease a large office in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
On 8 January 2010, Virgin Money announced the acquisition of
Church House Trust for £12.3 million, giving Virgin a small foothold in the UK banking market. Although Church House Trust had no branches, it provided Virgin with a banking licence. As part of the acquisition, Virgin agreed to invest a further £37.3 million of new capital into the business. On 26 January the deal was declared unconditional.
In late January Sir Brian Pitman became the Chairman of Virgin Money; Pitman had previously been an advisor to Virgin during the attempted buyout of Northern Rock in 2007. In February Pitman stated that the company was interested in acquiring some branches of other banks which lie in good locations; branches belonging to the
RBS
RBS may refer to:
Organisations Banking
* The Royal Bank of Scotland, a retail banking subsidiary of NatWest Group
** RBS International, the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group
Education
* Regent's Business School
* Rotterdam Business School
...
and
Lloyds were reported as possible candidates. Following Pitman's death Sir
David Clementi
Sir David Cecil Clementi (born 25 February 1949) is a British business executive and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He was formerly the Chairman of the BBC.
Clementi holds a number of board positions including chairman of int ...
was appointed Chairman. In April 2010,
Wilbur Ross
Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer ...
invested £100 million in Virgin Money for a 21% stake in the company. Wilbur Ross had previously supported Virgin Money in its previous bid for Northern Rock. James Lockhart, Vice Chairman of
WL Ross & Co
WL Ross & Co is a private equity company founded and based in New York by Wilbur Ross in April 2000. The company focuses on investments in financially distressed companies with undervalued stocks, in the $100 to $200 million range, usually in the ...
, joined the Virgin Money board.
Acquisition of Northern Rock plc
![Northern Rock, Briggate, Leeds (20th June 2012)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Northern_Rock%2C_Briggate%2C_Leeds_%2820th_June_2012%29.JPG)
On 13 October 2007, Sir
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed ...
announced that Virgin Group were putting together a consortium of financiers to propose to plough millions into the troubled Northern Rock bank and in return take an approximate 30% stake in the business, bringing the current financial products offered by Virgin and combining them with Northern Rock's own financial products. By February 2008, Virgin were the favoured bidders for the bank and announced in its official submission to the government that, if successful, they would have merged Northern Rock and Virgin Money, naming the new company "Virgin Bank". The initial bid was not successful, and Northern Rock was then
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
.
During 2011 the government again asked suitors to come forward with proposals for Northern Rock. On 17 November 2011, it was announced that Virgin Money were to buy Northern Rock for £747 million, with other potential payments of up to £280 million over the next few years. By July 2012, a further £73 million was paid as deferred consideration.
WL Ross & Co
WL Ross & Co is a private equity company founded and based in New York by Wilbur Ross in April 2000. The company focuses on investments in financially distressed companies with undervalued stocks, in the $100 to $200 million range, usually in the ...
increased its stake in Virgin Money, owning 44% of the combined business by putting £260 million into the deal.
Both
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
-based Stanhope Investments and Branson's Virgin Group invested £50 million in the Northern Rock deal.
In 2014, Virgin Money repaid a further £154.5 million that it had received as part of the refinancing package.
There were to be no further job losses, except for those previously announced. Virgin has also pledged to keep the headquarters of the savings and mortgages business in Newcastle upon Tyne. On 9 January 2012, Richard Branson visited the Gosforth site and some branches of Northern Rock around Newcastle, including one with temporary Virgin Money branding.
Later developments
On 22 June 2012, Virgin acquired the remainder of the Gosforth site from Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc, the "bad-bank" which had been split from Northern Rock prior to the sale of the bank to Virgin. On 23 July it was announced that Virgin would also be acquiring £465 million worth of mortgage assets from Northern Rock (Asset Management). On 12 October, Northern Rock plc was renamed Virgin Money plc and the Northern Rock brand was phased out.
In January 2013, Virgin agreed to buy £1 billion of assets from
MBNA
MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006.
History
The former Maryland National ...
; these are the
Virgin Credit Card
Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by two independent brand-licensees worldwide from the Virgin Group. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom. The brand formerly operated in South Af ...
assets which MBNA has serviced and managed in partnership with Virgin Money since 2002. The credit card book was integrated into Virgin Money's operations in 2014, and was expected to create 150 jobs at the Gosforth offices. The former Vice Chairman of MBNA Corporation, Lance Weaver, became Virgin Money's President of Virgin Money Cards. A further £363 million credit card asset portfolio was purchased from MBNA in 2014.
In October 2014, it was announced that Virgin Money Holdings (UK) plc would float shares on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
in order to raise approximately £150 million which would go towards expanding and enabling it to continue to hire and maintain its existing base of top staff members. A successful offer led to a final payment of £50 million to the UK Government with respect to the company's
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
following the purchase of Northern Rock.
Church House Trust Limited was sold to Ocean Industries S.A. for £13 million on 30 November 2014.
WL Ross & Co
WL Ross & Co is a private equity company founded and based in New York by Wilbur Ross in April 2000. The company focuses on investments in financially distressed companies with undervalued stocks, in the $100 to $200 million range, usually in the ...
reduced its stake in the company to 23.3% in April 2015; Stanhope reduced its stake to 1%.
WL Ross & Co sold its remaining stake in November 2016.
As of 2017, the business had 3.34 million customers.
Acquisition by CYBG plc
On 7 May 2018, it was reported that
CYBG plc
Virgin Money UK plc is a holding company that owns Clydesdale Bank plc, which in turn trades as Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money in the United Kingdom. It was formed as CYBG plc by National Australia Bank (NAB) in February 201 ...
had made an all-share offer of £1.7bn to acquire the company. Payment was to be in terms of a share offer where CYBG would give 1.2125 new shares for each Virgin Money share which was a 19% premium to the current share price and would see Virgin Money comprising 38% of the new combined group which would become the UK's sixth-largest bank with 6 million personal and small business customers, and total lending of £70bn.
On 18 June, it was announced that the takeover had been agreed. Arrangements were made for CYBG to license the Virgin Money brand for £12 million a year (later rising to £15 million a year) and to move all its retail customers to Virgin Money over the following three years. The acquisition of Virgin Money plc by CYBG was completed on 15 October 2018 and shares in the holding company Virgin Money Holdings (UK) plc were therefore delisted from the London Stock Exchange.
[
It was reported that the deal may result in 1,500 job losses. The retail banking operation would be fronted by the Virgin Money brand and the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank brands would disappear from the High street. Virgin Money CEO chief executive ]Jayne-Anne Gadhia
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, (born 19 October 1961) is a British businesswoman. She is the Founder and Executive Chair of the fintech Snoop. Jayne-Anne was the CEO of Virgin Money from 2007 to 2018.
Early life
Gadhia was born in Stourbridge, Worcest ...
will be retained as a senior advisor and will receive around £1.8m redundancy, £1m bonus, £5.1m in shares to add to her existing £8.9m shares. The all-share deal buyout gave her a paper profit of around £12.5m.
Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed ...
, who owned a 35% stake in Virgin Money, will have a 13% holding in the new combined group.
In June 2019, CYBG plc announced its plans to consolidate its businesses under the Virgin Money brand. B and Yorkshire Bank, which exist as trading divisions of Clydesdale Bank plc
Clydesdale Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1838, and is the only former Scottish bank which retains its UK headquarters in Scotland, following the implosions in 2008 of the Ba ...
, will begin to use the Virgin Money name in late 2019 and Clydesdale Bank will use the new name from late 2020 to early 2021. In preparation for re-branding, the existing Virgin Money plc was merged into the existing Clydesdale Bank plc
Clydesdale Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1838, and is the only former Scottish bank which retains its UK headquarters in Scotland, following the implosions in 2008 of the Ba ...
on 21 October 2019.
Corporate affairs
Identity
Virgin Money's logo is focused around the main logo of Virgin Group
Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970.
Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...
, which is an underlined word 'Virgin' in a red circle. The most recent version of the logo was adopted in December 2019 and has the word "Virgin" in a red circle forming the letter O in the word "Money". The previous logo was adopted in January 2012 and was introduced to signify the purchase of Northern Rock, which used a magenta logo. Virgin Money's January 2012 television advert showcasing the launch of banking products showcased a number of Virgin companies and was directed by Duncan Jones
Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films ''Moon'' (2009), ''Source Code'' (2011), ''Warcraft'' (2016), and ''Mute'' (2018). For ''Moon'', ...
and worked on by Beattie McGuinness Bungay. Virgin Money's older logo was the word 'Virgin' in a red rounded skew rectangle, similar in shape to a credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
, followed by the word 'Money'. A previous logo had the word 'Virgin' in a large circle and three smaller circles above the word 'Money'. Virgin Direct's logo had been a more simplistic rendering of the company name, in white on top of a red rectangle with a semicircle attached on the left side.
Offices
Virgin Money's headquarters are the former Northern Rock offices, renamed as Jubilee House, in Gosforth
Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...
, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. The site is next to the Regent Centre
Regent Centre is a large business park in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The business park is home to a variety of companies, including banking group Virgin Money whose Head Office is located on the site. The centre has its own transport ...
business park and comprises two black and grey buildings built in the 1990s and some additional sandstone and glass buildings built in the early 2000s.
Virgin Money also have offices in Eagle Place, Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, at 28 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh
St Andrew Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland located at the east end of George Street. The gardens, part of the collection of New Town Gardens, are owned by a number of private owners, managed by Essential Edinburgh and opened t ...
, Gorstacks House in Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
and Discovery House in Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, which had been Virgin Money's head office prior to becoming a bank.
Services
Virgin Money offers a range of savings and investment products, mortgages, credit cards, insurance and pensions. The merger with Northern Rock widened Virgin Money's range from a previous focus on credit cards and insurance products, and the first savings accounts to be offered under the Virgin brand were issued in January 2012. These were gradually supplemented by other additional banking products under its own brand name. The bank launched its own range of basic current account Current account or Current Account may refer to:
* Current account (balance of payments), a country's balance of trade, net of factor income and cash transfers
* Current account (banking)
A transaction account, also called a checking account, ch ...
s in July 2014, initially only in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This was expanded to the rest of the UK in 2015.
In November 2011, the bank opened the first of its concept lounges in Norwich, followed by Edinburgh, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, London and Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
with plans to open more. Virgin renamed Northern Rock's 75 branches as stores, and the first to receive a temporary Virgin makeover opened on 9 January 2012. Richard Branson has also indicated in interviews that he would like to open branches at railway stations; Virgin Rail Group
Virgin Rail Group was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s.
United Kingdom operations
Origins
Virgin bid for a number of franchises, inclu ...
operated a number of railway stations at the time. The full rebranding process, which also included the combining of the Northern Rock website into the existing Virgin Money website, was completed by October.
Virgin Money launched a fully functional current account in December 2019. The account uses technology previously used by the "B" account offered by Clydesdale Bank. All existing "B" accounts were converted to Virgin Money current accounts as part of this process.
The bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...
and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Virgin Money Giving
Virgin Money Giving is a not-for-profit company set up by Virgin in October 2009. From 2010, the Virgin Group signed a five-year deal to be the official sponsor of the London Marathon
The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...
; the inaugural Virgin London Marathon was on 25 April 2010. This sponsorship led to the creation of Virgin Money Giving, with the aim "to help all fund-raisers raise more money for good causes". This sponsorship was also extended to at least 2017, and since the 2014 race has been known as the Virgin Money London Marathon.
Virgin Money Foundation
The Virgin Money Foundation is the charitable arm of the bank and was founded in 2015. The bank has initially pledged £4 million to the charity over 4 years, and the UK Government has committed to match that pledge.
Sponsorship
Virgin Money led the sponsorship of the London Marathon from 2010 to 2020. Virgin Money also lent its name to the yacht that Sir Richard Branson used to attempt to break the Transatlantic sailing record
Since the five-week voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, quickly and safely, between Europe and the Americas has always been an important issue. Today, the route has become a classic one among skippers. The record i ...
. Since 2011 Virgin Money has sponsored events at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
.
Virgin Money were the shirt sponsor of Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
for the 2012-13 season, a club that had a sponsorship deal with Northern Rock since 2003. Newcastle United's shirts also displayed the Virgin Money logo for the remainder of the 2011–12 season, fulfilling Northern Rock's deal at the time of being bought by Virgin. To coincide with the launch of Virgin Money's rebranded stores, Richard Branson appeared in Newcastle, wearing a Newcastle United shirt, with a number of Newcastle United's footballers. The deal between Virgin Money and Newcastle United had also covered the 2013-14 season, but the club decided to end the deal a year early.
Virgin Money are the former title sponsor of the Cyclone, the UK's biggest cycling festival, which had previously also been sponsored by Northern Rock. The first Virgin Money Cyclone was held in Summer 2012.
International operations
In 2003, Virgin Group launched its first Virgin Money venture outside of the UK by introducing its credit cards in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. In 2006, Virgin Money South Africa
Spot Money SA (Pty) Ltd. is a South African mobile banking platform.
The company launched as Virgin Money South Africa in 2006, as a partnership between Virgin Group (owners of the Virgin Money brand) and Absa Bank Limited, Absa, as an issuer of c ...
launched with a credit card initially in a partnership with ABSA. In 2007, Virgin Money launched in the United States after the Virgin Group made a majority stake investment in CircleLending, a company that facilitated peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer n ...
loans. The brand is no longer used in South Africa or the US.
See also
References
External links
*
Virgin Money Giving
Virgin Money Foundation
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Banks established in 1995
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Peer-to-peer charities
Peer-to-peer lending companies
British fundraising websites