About Starling Bank

What is Starling Bank?

Starling Bank is an award-winning and fully-licensed bank built to give people a fairer, smarter and more human alternative to the banks of the past. With four different account types – personal, business, joint and euro – and a pioneering payment services proposition for businesses, Starling’s world-class tech reimagines banking for life today, putting the tools people need to feel good about money in the palm of their hand.

All of Starling’s accounts are protected up to £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Want to find out how to use Starling Bank? Walk this way.

Where we’ve been

Starling was founded in 2014 by industry-leading banker Anne Boden, who recognised how technology could transform the way people manage their money and serve customers in a way that traditional banks hadn’t. We’ve since raised £323 million in backing and were voted Best British Bank two years running. Our customers also rate us Excellent on Trustpilot.

Follow our journey.

How many customers does Starling have?

In 2019, Starling passed one million customer accounts with £1 billion in deposits.

Our people

Starling’s head office is in London, but our team works across offices in Southampton, Cardiff and Dublin – and it’s growing every month!

From the engineers who craft it and the security experts who protect it to the customer service reps who support it, our bank brings an incredibly diverse mix of people together to solve customer’s problems and build a better bank for everyone.

Meet Starling’s leadership team.

Meet the board.

Why we’re different

The security of the banks of the past. The heart of the bank of the future.

Ethical practices

Saying no to rip-off fees. Listening to customers. Committing to an ethical approach. Banks haven’t always done the right thing, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.

Diversity

Inclusivity isn’t just a nice idea round here. It’s built into everything we do, from who we hire to how we treat people – and it informs how we build our product, too. Using tech for good is in our DNA.

Making money equal

We’re here to make banking better for everyone by demystifying money – which means no jargon or financial corporate-speak. From our T&Cs to our emails, we aim to be open, transparent and easy to understand.

Innovation first

Because our bank’s been built from scratch, we’ve been able to design the kind of banking features people actually need in today’s world – and fast.

Who owns Starling?

Starling is an independent, privately-owned company and is not part of any other bank.

It is 24% owned by Anne Boden, employees and ex-employees and an employee benefits trust set up for employees.

Other investors are:

Harry McPike, a global private investor with a focus on technology and financial sector opportunities. He is represented on the board by two investor directors: Lázaro Campos, a fintech investor and entrepreneur and former CEO of SWIFT, and Marcus Traill, a senior investment management professional and director of QuantRes, a global proprietary quantitative trading firm.

Merian Global Investors, a leading public investor in the UK.

Why the name Starling?

The Starling bird is sociable, adaptable, friendly and supportive – all qualities we wanted from our new bank. It also works as part of a team to make something as complex as a murmuration feel beautifully simple. You see where we’re going with this.

Plus, it’s a rather successful bird, which arrives in huge numbers in each new territory and displaces the old guard. Enough said.

Want to get in touch? Contact us