38 Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
Business
The finance chief who presided over a
damaging accounting blunder at Metro
Bank is leaving the group weeks after
City regulators fined it for the debacle.
Metro revealed yesterday that David
Arden had agreed with the bank’s board
to step down with immediate effect.
AstraZeneca lifted by trial
data on cancer treatment
Alex RalphPositive results from a late-stage trial of
one of AstraZeneca’s existing block-
buster drugs for the treatment of a type
of prostate cancer has led analysts to
raise sales forecasts by about $2 billion.
The company said that the phase III
trial showed olaparib, sold as Lynparza,
a therapy developed with MSD, when
used in combination with abiraterone,
an existing treatment, reduced the risk
of cancer progressing by a third.
The PROpel trial studied the drugs as
a first-line treatment for patients with
castration-resistant prostate cancer
that has spread, and showed improve-
ment irrespective of a specific type of
gene mutation.
Prostate cancer is the second most
common cancer in men, causing about
375,000 deaths in 2020. Patients with
the advanced form have a particularly
poor prognosis, while the five-year sur-vival rate remains low, AstraZeneca
said.
The results lifted AstraZeneca shares
by 484p, or 5.8 per cent, to £88.65. The
stock peaked at £94.44 in November,
driven by the successful development
of a series of new drugs, particularly in
oncology, which have transformed the
company’s finances and prospects and
made it one of the most valuable com-
panies on the London stock market.
The Cambridge-based AstraZeneca
was created in 1999 through the merger
of Astra, of Sweden, and Zeneca, of
Britain. It has become a household
name in Britain with its role in the
Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine.
Analysts at Bank of America yester-
day forecast $3 billion peak sales for
Lynparza in prostate cancer treatment
alone, meaning that total sales could hit
about $7 billion in 2025, which is ahead
of consensus forecasts among analysts
of about $5 billion.Plus500
slowe d by
calm after
the storm
Metro finance chief ’s exit
ends links to costly blunder
Ben Martin Banking Editor The timing of his exit is unusual, com-
ing days before Metro is due to report
annual results next Wednesday.
The lender moved to reassure inves-
tors that Arden’s departure was not
linked to its forthcoming figures, which
it said would be “in line with manage-
ment expectations”.
Arden’s exit comes less than two
months after Metro was fined £5.4 mil-
lion by the Bank of England’s Pruden-
tial Regulation Authority for an
accounting mistake three years ago
that plunged the lender into turmoil.
The Financial Conduct Authority is
still conducting its inquiry into the
episode.
Arden, 53, was Metro’s finance chiefat the time. Although the bank did not
give a reason for his departure and
would not comment beyond its state-
ment, it is likely that his exit will help
the group to move on from the episode
in the eyes of its investors.
Craig Donaldson, who was Metro’s
chief executive, and Vernon Hill, the
bank’s founder and chairman, both left
within months of the incident, meaning
that Arden was the only senior figure
associated with the blunder still in post.
The accounting error derailed
Metro’s expansion plans. The bank was
set up by Hill, an American
entrepreneur, in 2010 with ambitious
plans to break into British high street
banking. While other big lenders closed
branches as more customers shift
online, Metro sought growth through
its spacious sites with long opening
hours and a focus on customer service.
It came unstuck in January 2019,
when it shocked the stock market by
revealing that there were mistakes in its
accounting treatment of some loans.
The errors meant Metro had to in-
crease its risk-weighted assets by
£900 million and was not holding
enough capital. It was forced to raise
£375 million from its shareholders,
while customers’ nervousness about its
financial health prompted some to
withdraw their deposits.
The episode still overshadows the
bank. When it raised debt later in 2019,
the fallout meant that it was forced to
agree to a high interest rate. The cost of
servicing these expensive bonds helped
to turn Metro lossmaking.
Dan Frumkin, the turnaround expert
who succeeded Donaldson, also cut
back Metro’s expansion plans.
Sam Woods, head of the PRA, said in
December when the regulator an-
nounced its fine that Metro had “failed
to meet the standards of governance
and controls expected of it”. The
authority’s findings also showed that
Metro’s senior management had been
warned about potential accounting
problems in August 2018, months
before the blunder was made public.
Marc Jenkins, the deputy finance
chief, will take on Arden’s responsibili-
ties while Metro looks for an interim
replacement.