Newly launched Guernsey-based bank for offshore trustees, investment funds, and family offices, Bank Aston, plans to onboard its first customers in the first half of 2026, it has announced.

The bank, which launched in June 2025 after being granted a banking licence by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, is currently building out its products and services in preparation for onboarding customers.

Bank Aston said it was Guernsey’s first new, locally licensed bank in nearly 30 years, and has appointed its first two non-executive directors (NED), Claire Whittet and Roy McGregor.

Whittet was formerly co-head of Rothschild & Co Bank International in Guernsey, where she spent 13 years, and brings over 40 years of banking experience to Bank Aston’s board.

She also previously held senior roles at the Bank of Bermuda and Bank of Scotland, and sits on several boards in Guernsey.

McGregor is a former CEO of Credit Suisse AG in the Channel Islands, a position he held for a decade before leaving the firm in 2016.

He is currently president of the Guernsey Tax Tribunal and holds various NED roles in the financial industry, including Imperium Group Holdings and several banking and financial services firms across the UK, the Islands and Gibraltar.

“We are proud and delighted to welcome Claire and Roy as our first two NEDs,” said Bank Aston CEO, Paul Gorman.

“Both Guernsey residents, they know the island’s financial services sector like the back of their hands. We are building a Guernsey based bank and our key people – its mind and its management – are here on the island.”

“They have unparalleled experience in offshore markets, and I am looking forward to having their input as we build a bank that shakes up the offshore banking sector.”

Whittet commented: “Offshore banking has long needed a new player. Bank Aston is building an offer that I have no doubt will disrupt the tired status quo currently serving the offshore community.

“In my conversations with the leadership team, I know that Bank Aston is taking regulatory responsibilities and risk extremely seriously and I am looking forward to guiding that area of the business in the coming years.”

McGregor added: “Having been part of the offshore banking community for decades there is a considerable opportunity for a bank that treats trustees, funds and family offices as its priority, rather than a ‘nice to have’.

“I have been taken by the bank's understanding of its customer base, and the pain points those customers have with traditional banking offers. The size of the market is huge and so is Bank Aston’s potential.”

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