Financial services start-up volt bank has secured the first banking authority under APRA's new restricted licensing regime.As reported by Banking Day last week, volt bank is the brainchild of former NAB and Barclays senior executive Steve Weston who has attracted a string of heavy hitters to the company's board, including current ING Australia director, John Masters and former Macquarie Bank executive director, Tony Fehon.The new licence has been granted to a company trading as volt bank limited, which sits within a holding company known as volt Corporation.While the restricted licence allows volt bank to raise up to A$2 million of deposits, Weston told Banking Day that the company would remain focused over the next six months on securing a full banking licence from the regulator."We will continue to test our products this year and we will hold off going to the public until we get the full licence," he said."We're working really closely with our regulators and we're hoping that the licence process will be completed by the end of this calendar year."Volt has beaten a swathe of domestic and international start-ups to the first restricted banking licence after raising more than $15 million in capital from investors.Under APRA's existing licensing guidelines the company now has two years to meet further prudential requirements to be eligible for a full banking authority.Weston said he began working on the volt business model on the night of the 2017 federal budget after Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the government's open banking reforms.After Weston consulted former banking industry colleague Luke Bunbury, the duo decided last June to begin building the start-up bank.While most start-ups or so-called neo-banks in the UK and South America are focused on developing a business case in a niche product market, Weston insists that volt's long term aim is to be a full service bank for retail and business customers."We will be different from most other neo-banks because we want to provide a full banking service," he said."We are seeing people's behaviour changing in western economies - if people can find a better way to do their banking they are increasingly prepared to shift their accounts."Our products will be keenly priced like ING Bank and ME."Weston said the bank's success would hang on its ability to execute a technology and data-driven platform that puts customers in control of their banking.He suggested that brand building for a financial services business in the digital age relied more on service delivery than marketing spend."We know from overseas experience that a well-executed digital bank can go viral among millennial consumers," he said."You don't need to be on TV to be successful."Weston said the volt bank concept sprung from his time at Barclays Bank in the UK where he led the group's retail banking and mortgage operations.Barclays is widely recognised as one of the early movers among incumbent banks to re-engineer product delivery using digital and data-driven technologies.Volt bank is largely aiming to fund future lending through deposits raised from retail and business customers."We hope to