So Tandem is going to buy Harrods Bank. That's the easiest way to get a banking licence. Buy a company that already has one.
I thought I'd have a look at the accounts and see what they've bought. Latest available are for y/e 31 Jan 2016.
Interesting. Harrods Bank lost £6.2m after tax in 2016, and £4.0m in 2015. A brief scrutiny reveals that they are (or were) moving into the mortgage market, and spending a lot of money on staff and admin to do so. Perhaps things have got better since, and the results have improved. Mind you Tandem's only accounts for December 2015 show a loss of £6.4 m, so it's not that bad.
Of course, Harrods is now owned by Qatar Holdings. (i.e the Qatar government). Press reports a few months ago said that Qatar had given up on the bank and put it up for sale. No indication of how much Tandem have paid for it. But Harrods Bank had net assets of about £356m. Either Qatar will be selling Harrods Bank in return for a big pile of Tandem Money Ltd shares, or some hard cash that Tandem will raise by selling a big pile of new shares.