A German digital bank is planning to launch in Britain, once it is granted access to the payment system. Fidor Bank had planned to open in the UK last month, but it has been held up by the difficult payments infrastructure. The big four - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS - act as sponsor banks with direct access to payments systems. None has accepted Fidor as a customer. Frank Schwab, of Fidor, which has no branches, said: “We did not know it was such a challenge, we only found out once we started the project."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11513405/UK-launch-of-digital-bank-Fidor-hamstrung-by-payments-providers.html