Mr Hill was the founder of Commerce Bancorp which grew from one office in America in 1973 to 500 offices throughout the East Coast of America. He is also the chairman of Fetch, which operates as Pet Plan America.

Mr Thomson has 27 years experience in financial services and is currently the chairman of the Financial Services forum (FS Forum), an independent member-based community for over 500 senior executives with an interest in financial services marketing.

Initially, Metro Bank will open two stores in London and deposits will be covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the stores are scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2010. In addition, Metro Bank intends to build a network of more than 200 stores in Greater London over the next 10 years.

In addition to consumer service, Metro Bank will offer full range business banking products serving the SME market including cash management, deposit services and a full range of credit facilities. At Metro Bank, the local store managers will make lending decisions based on their relationships with local businesses.

Metro Bank will be led by a team of UK executives including: Craig Donaldson, CEO, formerly managing director of retail banking at Royal Bank of Scotland; Paul Marriott-Clarke, managing director of retail banking, formerly managing director of Network South, Retail at HBOS; Darren Schindler, managing director of commercial banking, formerly CEO of Oak Capital Group; Aisling Kane, chief operations officer, formerly director of UK operations at Anglo Irish Bank; Mike Brierley, chief financial officer, formerly director of business risk at Barclaycard

The bank’s non-executive directors will be: Howard Flight, founder of Guinness Flight Asset Management; Eugene Lockhart, former CEO of Midland Bank and MasterCard and former president of global retail banking at Bank of America; Stuart Bernau, former retail director at Nationwide Building Society; Ben Gunn, former chief executive of Friends Provident Life & Pensions; Keith Carby, co-founder of J Rothschild Assurance; Anthony Thomson, chairman of Financial Services Forum; Vernon Hill, founder of Commerce Bank

Anthony Thomson, chairman of Metro Bank, said: “Metro Bank is a retailer of financial services. Our main focus will always be on customers, both retail and business, and making sure we do the right thing by them. We believe that by providing unparalleled service and convenience, Metro Bank will stand out from other High Street banks. We know that UK banking customers are looking for a new, convenient way of banking.”

Vernon Hill, vice chairman of Metro Bank, said: “Metro Bank is an investment in the future of Britain. At Metro Bank the customer is king and our goal is to reinvent British banking by building fans not customers.”