Yes, you can. Once you’ve opened a regular UK business account with Starling, you then have the option of opening a euro account and/or a US dollar account to run alongside it. These are the details:
Business euro account – £2 monthly fee. Comes with a unique European IBAN, which means users can send and receive payments in euros from their Starling app, as well as spend in either pounds or euros using just a single debit card.
A US dollar account – £5 monthly fee. Comes with a US account number and sort code equivalent, which means users can send and receive payments in US dollars from their Starling app, as well as spend in either pounds or US dollars using just a single debit card.
Customers can transfer money between their GBP, EUR and USD business accounts 24/7. You’ll get the current exchange rate, with a 0.4% conversion fee from Starling added on top. You’ll always see the exchange rate before the conversion is made, so if you’re looking to make a transfer on the weekend, you have the option to wait until Monday morning.
Using a Starling business account for international payments
If you’re abroad, you can use your Starling business debit card to make purchases or withdraw money from ATMs for free.
But the Starling business account itself can only hold a balance in pounds and receive money in pounds. So if you’re being paid by a company abroad they will need to pay you in pounds (which might involve a fee at their end), and if you are transferring money to a bank account overseas there will also be a charge.
This is one of the reasons why the separate euro and US dollar business accounts are being offered as an option by Starling. They too can only hold money in their home currency (so euros and US dollars respectively), but if you’re doing lots of business in Europe or the US, you can send and receive payments in those currencies freely.
As explained above, these accounts do come with a monthly fee, but you can choose to open and run them alongside your standard Starling business account. You can also transfer money between all three, which involves a 0.4% currency commission from Starling.