Metro Bank 2023
The astrology of Metro Bank plc in October 2023
I haven’t been able to provide many insights lately, due to other commitment, but there are a couple of topical issues I’d like to address before I get back to the longer term ones.
The first of these is Metro Bank.
Metro Bank is interesting. It’s proposition was to focus on branches while other challenger banks were focusing on on-line offerings and the traditional banks were closing their branches.
It has also been the subject of some controversy with contracts offered to the founders wife etc.
The only surprise is that I’ve never looked at it before!
Metro was founded on 29 July 2010. It’s somewhat garish logo in keeping with its Leo Sun and the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Aries. The conjunction is in a T square with Pluto and Saturn, indicating its intension to go against the tide. Of course, as we know the next Uranus Jupiter conjunction is not far away, no surprises that the company is already resonating to it. Uranus is close to the degree of the conjunction at the moment- indicating the themes that will play out on a bigger scale next April.
The bank’s problems have been bubbling away for some time and peaked early last week. But new funding was announced on Sunday and it appears Metro lives to fight again.
I’ve set the transits for Noon BST on Sunday- angles are therefore not terribly relevant.
It is notable that although we don’t know the exact time of the agreement the transiting Moon on Sunday was conjunct the Metro Sun, a monthly event yes, but in this case a critical point.
We can immediately see that retrograde Jupiter is close to the Ascendant, indicating the size of the problems but also the last ditch funding.
The progressed Moon is at 2 Virgo and has been conjunct the Metro Mercury and quincunx the Metro Uranus Jupiter conjunction for the last couple of months. No wonder everything has come to a head. It will go on to square the progressed Ascendant and oppose the Metro Moon over the coming 5-6 months taking us to that fateful April 2024 time.
We can see that Pluto ( signifier of debt) has been transiting the company’s 10th house for a while ( since 2020). It is currently trine the Metro Mars and activated by the transiting Mars. It also put transiting Mars trine the Metro Neptune, another significator of both the problems and bondholders stepping in to help.
However it doesn’t take a genius to notice that Pluto currently retrograde in Capricorn will in 2024 return to Aquarius where it will sextile the company’s Jupiter Uranus conjunction, trine its Saturn and quincunx its Mercury and more importantly conjoining its progressed MC.
It seems we might have escaped the recent monster but we are by no means out of the woods and other scary challenges.
The IPO was in March 2016. Conditional trading started on the 7th but full unrestricted trading commenced on the 10th and that is the date I am using. For the current chart I use opening of trade on 9th October.
The shares reached their low on Friday 6th October but recovered somewhat after the weekend announcement ( peaking at 9am on 9th) but are still close to the low for the year. What does the astrology say about the shares?
The IPO Pluto is conjunct its MC, not the most attractive offering, though it is fortunately trine Jupiter, giving it more initial optimism than might be merited. This also hints at the debt but also the enthusiasm for the shares at IPO time despite it.
However, that aside, the IPO chart angles are not so different from the Foundation one, we can expect them to activate at similar times. To some extent this indicates that what we see is what we get. I think that is true, as Metro’s founders have always been prominent and activities well reported. There may be hidden things but basically what happens in the company is likely to be mostly reflected in the shares. This is not always the case in other companies.
We currently see that the progressed Moon is opposing the progressed Mc indicating a significant turning point un in the shares ( not necessarily either good or bad) The fact that the progressed Moon will now go on to oppos Pluto in about 5-6 months should turn our attention to next April again.
That leads us to transiting Uranus at 22 Taurus. It is close to conjunction with the progressed Ascendant ( and close to a trine with the progressed MC) . Clearly there will be big changes in the shares next spring. Could a takeover be in the offing? Or some other sort of shift? It could even be very positive but I would exercise caution unless you have money to gamble. Before Jupiter reaches Uranus it will form a grand trine with the natal Pluto and Jupiter and a sextile with the Sun ( though there is a corresponding quincunx with Saturn), this does suggest the chance to seize the moment finance wise.
It does culminate in the conjunction. If you invest, don’t take your eyes off the ball in March and April 2024.
Finally, Pluto is also currently in sextile with the progressed Sun, giving a sense of the new finance structure which might improve matters. It is contrasted with the Saturn square Mars which has restricted trading over the last few weeks. Though now it is increasing again, Saturn will move over much of the IPO planets in the coming months ( Mercury, Neptune and the Sun) suggesting that things will continue to be tight for a while. Look closely at the fundamentals and the management actions over the remainder of 2023.
OPTIMESIA
