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By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The UK's first digital-only bank is tapping investors for tens of millions of pounds in funding ahead of a planned launch next year.

Sky News understands that Atom, which will have no physical branches and focus on the internet and mobile apps to interact with customers, is raising approximately £20m from existing and new shareholders.

Insiders said on Tuesday that the nascent bank's investors included Paul Pindar, former chief executive of the outsourcing group Capita; Jeremy Middleton, co-founder of Homeserve; and Lorna Moran, the founder and chairman of recruitment group NRG.

A number of other prominent backers are understood to have agreed to contribute to Atom's new fundraising, which is expected to value the company at roughly £30m.

News of the capital-raising emerged on the same day that Lloyds Banking Group, Britain's biggest high street lender, confirmed a report by Sky News that it is axing 9000 jobs as it moves to offer more digital services.

The strategy update from Lloyds - which coincided with third-quarter profits dented by another massive bill for insurance mis-selling - will also see 200 branches being closed by the end of 2017.

In an interview with Sky News on Tuesday, Lord McFall, a former chairman of the Treasury Select Committee and recently appointed to the board of Atom, criticised the Lloyds cuts.

"The issue of bricks and mortar is still important for big banks, which have told me that they need to retain that.

"I am disappointed that Lloyds is giving up on an agreement brokered by the British Bankers' Association...that if they were the last bank in town, they won't leave."

The Labour Peer suggested that the Treasury Committee should "invite Lloyds along and question their figures on the redundancies and the social obligations they have to communities".

And he criticised both the last Labour administration and the Coalition for "not using their muscle" to force banks in which taxpayers hold shares to "ensure a greater social obligation".

Lloyds said it would concentrate branch closures in areas of "urban overlap" although it said it would not guarantee that rural branches would be excluded from the cuts.

Lord McFall joined Atom as a non-executive director several weeks ago, having previously served on the board of NBNK Investments, a vehicle set up - ultimately unsuccessfully - to acquire assets from the bailed-out banks.

Atom is chaired by Anthony Thomson, the driving force behind the launch of Metro Bank in the UK four years ago, and Mark Mullen, the former boss of First Direct, which is owned by HSBC and frequently tops customer service polls.

The digital-only venture, which is based in the north-east, is seeking regulatory approval from the banking and City watchdogs.

It believes it can build a profitable business by exploiting growing demand for digital banking, without the costly overheads associated with physical branch networks.

Atom declined to comment.