100% independent. We're not owned by any other bank. We're part-owned by our founder Anne, employees and an employee benefits trust with investment from Harry McPike, a global private investor, Chrysalis Investments Ltd, Fidelity, Railpen, Qatar Investment Authority, Millennium Management and Goldman Sachs.
Starling Bank bills itself as “Britain's first digital bank”. It was launched in 2014, the only bank in British history to be founded by a woman - Anne Boden. Over three million customers have joined the bank since then. It's a fully licensed independent bank, and has offices in London, Cardiff and Southampton.
Starling Bank regulation and FSCS protection
Starling Bank is a fully licensed independent bank in the UK. You can find out more about how they're regulated here. So if you open a joint account with Starling, you'll be protected up to £170,000 across both account holders.
Boden is a member of Tech Nation's FinTech Delivery Panel and has spoken at industry events such as Money20/20 and Wealth 2.0. In June 2023, Boden stepped down as Starling CEO after investor clash but retained her 4.9 per cent ownership of Starling.
We're not owned by any other bank. We're part-owned by our founder Anne, employees and an employee benefits trust with investment from Harry McPike, a global private investor, Chrysalis Investments Ltd, Fidelity, Railpen, Qatar Investment Authority, Millennium Management and Goldman Sachs.
As mentioned, she stepped down as Starling CEO in May 2023, saying she wanted to remove any potential conflict of interest stemming from her 5% shareholding in the business. It was seen as an odd move at the time, as plenty of CEOs own bigger stakes in the companies they run.
Starling Bank Status. Uptime over the past 30 days. View historical uptime. No downtime recorded on this day.
Unlike Starling which lets you send money abroad through the banking app, Chase accounts can't be used to make international payments. Winner: Starling. Again, it's unbelievably close but Starling wins due to having no monthly limit on cash withdrawals.
Yes, on the whole it's fair to say Starling is an ethical bank. They have a number of more responsible initiatives and they've put actions in place to reduce their environmental footprint.
FSCS-protected accounts
Eligible accounts are FSCS-protected for deposits up to £85,000.
24/7 access to the Faster Payment System (FPS) By using Starling Banking Services (SBS), you no longer have to be a direct member of FPS to benefit from real-time payments, which levels the playing field across the industry and ultimately means more people can make and receive payments quickly and efficiently.
In October, Starling was hit with a £29m fine for “shockingly lax” financial crime controls, which the City regulator said had left the financial system “wide open to criminals and those subject to sanctions”.
In the second half of 2023, Barclays received the highest number of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman among the leading banks in the United Kingdom.
Starling Bank was founded as a digital challenger bank by Anne Boden in January 2014.
Best online bank for low fees and account security
Discover Bank took the top spot on our list thanks to scoring the highest possible score in our fee category and its account security features, among other key reasons. Discover doesn't charge monthly fees on any of its accounts.
We're a fully regulated digital bank, built from scratch with some of the world's best banking security. Codes, face and fingerprint recognition are just a few of the ways we help to keep your money safe.
Having a poor credit score or having declared bankruptcy in the past could be some of the reasons your account might be declined. A quick check online shows several instances where this could have been the problem with people trying to open a Starling Bank account.
In March 2024, Starling reached a significant milestone of 4.2 million customers. Extrapolating from its current growth trajectory, the bank is projected to expand its customer base to over 5.2 million by the end of 2025.
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
Boden and Patterson were later seen playing poker with Sgt. Whitaker of Chicago P.D. Boden faced legal troubles after a neighbor, Serena Holmes, accused him of home invasion and assault.
However, the leadership team is aware of these issues and is actively working to address them. Regarding the comments about Starling being a "woke" company to a painful extent, it's important to understand that Starling is deeply committed to inclusivity and diversity.
As of 2024, gross profit of Starling Bank was 301.1 million British pounds, indicating a strong increase.