Nick WakelingFinance Director, Metro Bank

Nick is Finance Director at Metro Bank, joining before its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in March 2016. Founded in July 2010, Metro Bank is the first high street bank in the UK in over 100 years.

He began his career as a lawyer at Macfarlanes and Allens, and co-founded the latter firm's private equity group in Australia. Nick has a passion for supporting growth businesses and has advised a number of start-ups most recently through the London South Bank University Escalator programme. He is also published on the subject in the Journal of Private Equity and Australian Venture Capital Journal.

Nick is trustee and treasurer of Alice's Arc, a charity he co-founded in 2015 to help children with cancer. The charity has raised over £800k to date to fund clinical research into the disease. He is also governor of Newington Green Primary School and director of The Community Plan for Holloway, campaigning for green space, social housing and a Women’s Building on the former women’s prison site.

Nick has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Bristol and an MBA from the University of Navarra - IESE Business School in Barcelona. He is also a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales and a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. He has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, and has travelled extensively.