(6 October 2017 – United Kingdom) Startup and online-only UK bank, Starling has said it is targeting business customers, marking another battlefront between challenger banks and Britain’s largest lenders.
Starling – which launched an app-only current account in April will launch a business banking service early next year.
Founder and chief executive of the online bank, Anne Boden, said that business lending had been “highly concentrated with a few big players for too long”.
“It will be very easy to get up and running, taking five minutes or less,” she said. “At the moment opening a business account can take many hours at a branch. Business owners are far too busy for that.”
Services offered with Starling’s free business account will include linked invoicing and accounting services, real-time international payments and 24/7 customer service. It will initially be designed for entrepreneurs, sole traders, and small business owners.
Starling will also launch in Ireland soon, with a small number of customers already accessing the app. It is planning a further £40 million fundraising in the middle of next year to help fuel international expansion.
The bank also hopes to leverage the European Union’s “open banking” directive, which allows rival lenders to access a customer’s financial information with the person’s consent.