# Starling Bank

Starling Bank (/ˈstɑːrlɪŋ/) is a British bank, occasionally referred to as a digital challenger bank or neobank, providing current and business bank accounts in the United Kingdom. Starling Bank is a licensed and regulated bank, founded by former Allied Irish Banks COO, Anne Boden, in January 2014. Since its founding, it has received over £500M of funding.
The bank offers a range of limited personal and business banking services through its mobile app including, among other services, personal current accounts, joint accounts, business accounts, and Euro accounts. With a focus on technology and user experience, Starling Bank has become an alternative to traditional high-street banks. The bank’s headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

## History

Starling Bank was founded as a digital challenger bank by Anne Boden in January 2014. The company received its banking licence from the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority in July 2016. It launched its beta for personal current accounts in March 2017. In March 2018, Starling launched business accounts. In February 2019, it launched personal Euro accounts in the UK. Initially Starling customers could make fee-free conversions between the Starling GBP account and Euro account, but in September 2019 the bank introduced a 0.4% conversion fee.
In 2016, Starling raised £48 million. Founder Anne Boden announced in December 2017 that the bank intended to apply for the RBS Remedies Fund. In February 2019, Starling raised £75m from Merian Global Investors. The following week, the company announced it had raised £100m from the Capability and Innovation Fund in the form of grant funding. In March 2021, Starling announced a £272m funding round, with investors including Fidelity, the Qatar Investment Authority and Millennium Management.
The bank has partnered with other companies to offer some of its services. In March 2017, Starling began to use Wise to process international payments. In November 2018, the company partnered with the Post Office to allow account holders to deposit and withdraw funds at any Post Office branch.
In late 2020, The Times reported that larger banks were looking at acquiring Starling. The CEO of Starling denied reports and stated they aimed for an initial public offering by 2022.
In its annual report for the year ending 31 March 2022, Starling announced it had become the first challenger bank to become profitable, reporting pre-tax profit of £32.1 million on revenues of £188 million. This was up from a pre-tax loss of £31.5 million the previous year. Starling founder, Boden, put this down to its push into the mortgage market, which saw it grow its mortgage loan book to over £2 billion. In June 2022, it revealed that customers had opened 3 million Starling current accounts, including more than 460,000 business current accounts.
In its annual report for the year ending 31 March 2023, Starling announced it had become the first challenger bank to become profitable for two consecutive years, reporting pre-tax profit of £195 million on revenues of £453 million. It was also announced that founder and CEO Anne Boden would be stepping down as CEO from 30 June 2023 Anne will remain on the board of directors with current Starling COO, John Mountain stepping up as Interim CEO of Starling.
In March 2024, the company announced the appointment of Raman Bhatia as its new, permanent chief executive, joining from OVO Energy. Bhatia took up the position formally that summer, replacing John Mountain. In his first major policy change, Bhatia ordered all hybrid staff to travel to work for a minimum of 10 days each month.
In its annual report for the year ending 12 June 2024, Starling announced it had become the first challenger bank to become profitable for three consecutive years in a row, reporting pre-tax profit of £301.1 million on revenues of £682.2 million.
In October 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Starling Bank £29 million ($38.5 million) for deficiencies in its anti-money laundering controls and sanctions screening systems, which dated back to 2017. The FCA noted that Starling opened over 54,000 accounts for 49,000 high-risk customers between September 2021 and November 2023. Problems were first identified in 2021 during a review of financial crime controls in the challenger bank sector. By January 2023, the bank discovered its screening system had only assessed a fraction of the sanctions list since 2017. Starling accepted the FCA's findings, apologized for the historical failings, and emphasized that it had invested significantly to rectify these issues, including enhancing board governance. Although the initial fine was set at £41 million, Starling received a 30% discount for its cooperation with the FCA.

## Locations

Starling does not have physical branches. The company has offices in London, Cardiff, Southampton and Manchester. For customers who want to deposit cash into their accounts, it has partnered with the Post Office to offer services in branches and other designated locations across the UK.

## Cards

Starling Bank offers a contactless Debit Mastercard. As of September 2019, Starling cards were not part of the LINK network.
Starling changed the design of its cards in July 2018, to a vertical card design coloured teal and navy. In March 2021, Starling announced their new and replacement debit cards would be made from 75% of recycled rigid PVC plastic.
In addition to physical cards, Starling Bank also offers its customers the ability to create multiple virtual cards within the app. These virtual cards can be used for online purchases and can be set up. Customers can also set limits, block and unblock their virtual cards for security and control. The ability to create multiple virtual cards allows customers to easily separate their spending into different categories, such as entertainment, groceries, or travel, making it easier to track spending.

## Mobile apps

The focus on technology and user experience has been a key differentiator for Starling Bank. The bank primarily serves customers via mobile banking apps on iOS and Android.
The features of Starling's mobile apps include instant notifications of transactions, freezing and unfreezing customers' cards to prevent unauthorised transactions, categorising transactions for later analysis, creating separate "goals" where money can be stored separately to a customer's main balance, and in-app chat with customer service representatives. The bank also offers a 'Settle Up' feature, where customers can send money to their contacts. The app also features real-time notifications and spending insights, aiding customers in making informed financial decisions. In 2017, Starling claimed to be the first UK bank to support in-app setup for Apple Pay.

## Engine

In February 2022, Starling created a subsidiary business for its banking-as-a-service platform, Engine, through which it plans to white-label to other firms to allow them to use its systems for processing payments, card transactions and opening customer accounts.

## Acquisitions
### Fleet Mortgages

In July 2021, Starling announced it had acquired specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages for £50 million. Fleet Mortgages had around £1.75 billion of mortgages under management at the time of the acquisition. Starling said Fleet Mortgages would retain its brand and management team.

### Masthaven

In June 2022, Starling bought a £500 million mortgage portfolio from specialist lender Masthaven. Masthaven had announced plans to wind down its operations by selling its mortgage book by 2023.

## Awards

Starling Bank received the Best British Bank award in the British Bank Awards for four consecutive years – 2018 to 2021.
Starling Bank received the Best British Banking brand award by Which? for four consecutive years – 2021 to 2024.
Starling Bank won the best mobile banking app and best kids account in the British Bank awards 2024.

## Senior leadership

* Chairman: David Sproul (since October 2021)
* Chief Executive: Raman Bhatia (since March 2024)

### List of former chairs

* Oliver Stockton (2015–2021)

### List of former chief executives

* Anne Boden (2014–2023)
* John Mountain (Interim) (2023–2024)