Egg (bank)
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Egg is a British internet bank, with its headquarters in Derby, England. Formerly called Prudential Banking plc, Egg was established in 1996, and is now the world's largest "pure" internet bank in that it is only possible to operate an Egg account over the internet. Egg specialises in savings, credit cards and loans but also offers mortgage and insurance products.
History
Egg was established as a division of Prudential plc, the UK life assurance company. Prudential Banking was involved in direct selling of savings products. In 1998, the division was renamed Egg and relaunched as the UK's first internet bank. The service gained in popularity, and soon the bank had more than 2 million customers. In 2000, Prudential cashed in on its stake and floated 21% of the company on the London Stock Exchange, retaining a 79% stake. In 2003 Prudential announced its intention to sell its remaining stake in Egg to a third party. Despite rumours of interest from the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, no formal offers were received, and Prudential formally dropped its plans in 2005.Subsequently, Prudential bought back the remaining minority share in January 2006 and de-listed the organisation from the London Stock Exchange. Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gratton, left the organisation in March 2006 to be replaced by then Chief Operating Officer, Mark Nancarrow.