Starling Bank

Starling Bank was the brainchild of Anne Boden, a former COO for Allied Irish Banks, who believed that the banking system needed changing from its roots. So, in 2014 she gave up her job and set about setting up her own. The initial capital of £48M was raised from quant investor Harald McPike, and after partnering with Transferwise, the developer platform went live in April 2017.

Starling Bank markets itself as being forward-thinking and innovative, providing ‘an incredible app, purpose-built for those who happily manage their lives on their phone’, to quote Boden herself. With its focus firmly on its customers, and Starling’s ability to constantly and rapidly update the facilities available to those customers, it certainly feels like Starling is something different to the conventional banking of yesteryear.

Banking group: Starling Bank Ltd

Major news:

• July 2016 – Starling received its banking licence.
• November 2017 – Starling integrates with Yoyo wallet, enabling customer to enjoy the loyalty points without accessing or paying via a different app.
• September 2017 – Starling introduces ‘Marketplace’, partnering with Flux to offer paperless receipts and cashback information with further partnerships in the pipeline.
• March 2018 – Starling launches business accounts, the first digital-only business accounts in the UK

Unique features:

• Earn interest on in-credit balances up to £85,000
• Set and personalise savings targets
• Categorise spending to help manage your finances
• No fees to make purchases abroad, or to take money out of a foreign ATM
• Facility to lock your card if you lose it, then unlock it if you find it – or just block the card from online payments or ATM withdrawals
• ‘Settle Up’ feature, making IOUs to family and friends easier to remember and repay
• Send money overseas to over 37 countries, with 19 currencies
• Starling marketplace – where customers can access different services within the Starling app (including pension information, purchase travel insurance, obtain paperless receipts of their spending etc.). This is constantly being updated to include new features.
• 24/7 in-app support

Current accounts:

• Starling account

7-day account switch guarantee: Yes

Credit cards: No

Savings accounts: No

Mortgages: No

Digital banking: Starling is only available as a mobile app (iOS/Android)

Business banking: Yes

FSCS deposit protection: Yes, up to £85,000 per accountholder

Regulatory Information:

• Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
• Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and PRA. Registration number 730166.
• Subscribes to the Lending Standards Board’s Standards of Lending Practice.