Starling Bank hits 3m accounts

The challenger bank has added 1m users in the past 18 months.

Image source: Starling Bank.

Five years after launching publicly, Starling Bank has reached a milestone of three million current accounts.

In the last 18 months, the bank has added one million users, secured more than £300m in funding, won best British bank for the fourth time at the British Bank Awards, developed a bank card for children, and that’s just the start.

It has also reached more than 460,000 small business accounts, with its business current accounts now comprising 8 per cent of the UK SME banking market.

“Starling has proven that technology can transform the banking experience and we’ve attracted millions of customers as a result,” Starling chief banking officer Helen Bierton said.

“Our technology platform was built to scale, so as we continue to launch industry-first products and features, we’re ready to onboard many more customers – and at pace.”

Headed up by CEO Anne Boden, Starling Bank became a unicorn fintech at long last after a successful period over the pandemic, and a surprise £272m Series D funding round.

Data from the current account switching service showed the bank gained the most net switches last year of all banks in the UK.

The bank also ventured into the world of acquisitions for the first time last year with the purchase of Fleet Mortgages.

Now, in its latest step into M&A, the bank has reportedly bought a £500m mortgage book from specialist lender Masthaven.

Boden also shared plans for the upcoming global launch of the challenger bank’s banking-as-a-service offering in her annual letter to customers at the start of this year.

After a number of big milestones and moves this year, perhaps that’s where we’ll see Starling heading next.