UK challenger bank Atom has decided to postpone the launch of its current account service until at least 2018, according to chief executive Mark Mullen.

In an interview with the Financial Times he explained that the delay was due to the threat of new regulation that would make the UK personal banking market “too ambiguous and uncertain”.

The digital-only bank secured its banking licence in June 2015 before launching operations in April 2016. In March this year, the bank received £83 million in funding which took the total capital raised to £219 million.

Referencing the FCA’s review of the current account market and the CMA’s timetable for implementing Open Banking, Mullen told the FT: “Everything above owes its origin to regulatory intervention of one sort or another and it’s frustrating that they all start landing in 2018.

“Taken together, they combine to create both ambiguity and uncertainty. We will still launch a [personal current account], but we also want to get it right and avoid wasting money.”

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