Banking

‘The platform has been designed to cope with working in different markets’: Inside Starling Bank’s evolution as a technology platform

  • UK digital bank Starling Bank is busy evolving into a technology business. 
  • The bank wants to keep padding its bottom line but without the tediousness that comes with a traditional international expansion. Instead, the bank is busy making a B2B pivot through its subsidiary Engine by Starling.
close

Email a Friend

‘The platform has been designed to cope with working in different markets’: Inside Starling Bank’s evolution as a technology platform

UK digital bank Starling Bank is busy evolving into a technology business. 

Started by a veteran in technology and banking Ann Boden, Starling Bank was built to give consumers a better banking experience on par with that of their favorite mobile apps. “Our current account is for people who find that every other part of their life can be delivered through their mobile phone and yet their banks aren’t keeping up,” said Boden in 2016 when the bank was still relatively new. 

Since then Starling Bank has been one of the few challenger banks in the UK that has been able to turn a profit. And it wants to keep padding its bottom line but without the tediousness that comes with a traditional international expansion. Instead, the bank is busy making a B2B pivot through its subsidiary Engine by Starling, which enables banks to use the same core banking platform that has powered Starling Bank since its inception. 

“Engine is the technology platform that was built to power Starling Bank, and this technology has been fundamental to Starling’s success. It was clear from the start that to deliver the digital-first, customer experiences that would set Starling apart and disrupt the market, we needed to build our own platform,” said Victoria Newton, Chief Product Officer, Engine by Starling.

Engine by Starling is used by Salt Bank in Romania and AMP Bank in Australia, and both geographies make sense because they are in close regulatory alignment with the UK, according to Engine by Starling’s CEO, Sam Everington. “Working and scaling into different markets poses unique challenges too, but the platform has been designed to cope with this, and we have an expert team and a growing network of partners to help our client banks on the journey,” Newton added. 

Newton also hopes that some of the experience the company and its platform gain in new markets can be brought back to the mothership and help “spark ideas that will better serve our UK bank,” she said. 

Engine by Starling has also recently partnered with GFT, a digital transformation company, which will provide design, integration, and implementation services to Engine clients. GFT’s role seems to be to remove roadblocks that FIs can face when taking on a digital transformation.


subscription wall for TS Pro

0 comments on “‘The platform has been designed to cope with working in different markets’: Inside Starling Bank’s evolution as a technology platform”

Banking, SMB Finance

Building bridges: How foundational tech investments can shape a more connected banking ecosystem, feat. U.S. Bank’s Scott Beyer

  • How can FIs step in with solutions that allow SMBs to concentrate on growing their businesses while relegating banking to the background?
  • During Tearsheet’s The Big Bank Theory Conference, Scott Beyer, U.S. Bank’s Head of Business Banking Digital Experiences, outlined three crucial steps that banks can take to capitalize on opportunities and minimize gaps in the SMB landscape.
Sara Khairi | October 03, 2024
New banks, Path to growth

How Grasshopper uses team building and customer acquisition strategies to catalyze its growth

  • Grasshopper has recently grown its talent pool by bringing on four new executives to fill key roles in startup banking, embedded finance, product management, and SMB/SBA lending.
  • We look at how team building is intertwined with Grasshopper’s growth strategy and its growth trajectory two years post-relaunch.
Sara Khairi | September 26, 2024
Banking, The People Starting Things

On fighting the boys club and building role models in financial services

  • Three women leaders from the industry dive into their experiences with bias and lack of representation of women in tech in the financial services industry.
  • An exploration of how lack of representation impacts communities and how organizations can do better.
Rabab Ahsan | September 24, 2024
Banking, Making better partnerships, Path to growth, Podcasts

How are emerging community banks building effective tech partnerships? 

  • This episode builds on the de novo community banking theme, exploring the origin, growth, and technology paths of two community banks: RockPointBank in Tennessee and Moultrie Bank in Georgia. 
  • Both banks are young, having been founded during the pandemic, and while they share some commonalities like limited budgets and staffing, they each have unique markets and growth strategies. The variety of perspectives on the same challenges is what makes their story interesting.
Sara Khairi | September 19, 2024
Banking, Making better partnerships, Path to growth, Podcasts

‘Banks use about 35% of their available technology, and we didn’t want to be that bank’: Craft Bank CEO, Ross Mynatt, on evolving tech preferences among community banks

  • Hey, I'm Tearsheet's Sara Khairi, kicking off as your new host of the Tearsheet Podcast alongside our editor-in-chief, Zack Miller. Ready to shake things up, I'm excited to bring you some episodes of my own. My very first episode takes you to Atlanta, where we explore the growth and tech preferences of Craft Bank.
  • Ross Mynatt, CEO of Craft Bank joins us to discuss his journey as a first-time CEO, the choice of Jack Henry as their core tech partner, and the strategies behind Craft Bank’s $250 million asset growth in just under 4 years.
Sara Khairi | September 05, 2024
More Articles