Manx Financial Group PLC (LON: MFX) celebrated a financial services first in October 2023 when its Conister Bank became the first Isle of Man bank authorised to accept deposits in the United Kingdom.

Chief executive Douglas Grant says being awarded a UK Branch Banking Licence demonstrated regulatory recognition of the company’s “really transparent operating business model based on sound economics”.

Expansion of the group’s overall model says Grant will come through diversification. It will come from organic growth, acquisition and backing management teams. “We’ve got almost like an incubator kind of theory”, enthuses Grant who references an FX business the company backed from ‘zero’ which now “makes a million pounds a year for us”.

Depositors also have the company’s back with Conister Bank passing on interest rate increases to its savers. While that magnanimous gesture resulted in corporate margin contraction, more importantly it made for happy customers.