[1/2] Chairman Anthony Thomson (L) and Vice Chairman Vernon Hill pose with a dog outside the first branch of Metro Bank in Holborn in central London July 29, 2010.
Metro declined to comment on Tuesday.
A Starling spokesperson said the lender was making inroads into the big banks' market dominance.
Metro is not the only smaller bank to have faced problems.
One option is for smaller banks to gain scale through mergers and acquisitions.
Persons:
Anthony Thomson, Vernon Hill, Toby Melville, John Cronin, Caius Capital, Monzo, Starling, We've, Morgan Stanley, Gary Greenwood, Rupak Ghose, Shore Capital's Greenwood, Ghose, Shawbrook, Jaime Gilinski, Dorita, Iain Withers, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Anousha Sakoui, Huw Jones, Amy, Jo Crowley, Sinead Cruise, Chiara Elisei, Alexander Smith
Organizations:
Metro Bank, REUTERS, Yorkshire, Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, Metro, Caius, Varde Partners, Finance, Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, The Bank of England, Prudential, Authority, Shore Capital, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Shore, Financial, Bank, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
Holborn, London, Starling, Metro, Colombian