Starling Bank promises 400 new UK jobs with £100m grant
Challenger bank Starling is promising 398 new jobs in the UK thanks to the £100 million grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF).
Anne Boden, Starling
As reported today (22 February), the RBS Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) announced the winners of the awards of Pool A CIF, part of the Incentivised Switching Scheme (ISS).
The grant comes from a £775 million fund created as a condition on RBS for accepting £45 billion bailout during the financial crisis.
It wasn’t just about Starling. The grants, which have a combined value of £280 million, also saw £120 million to Metro Bank and £60 million to ClearBank.
Along with the new jobs, the bank will invest £94.8 million of its own money as it hunts out action in the lively SME market.
Anne Boden, Starling’s founder and chief executive, says the award “will accelerate our ability to reshape the SME banking market”.
Starling says it will make £913 million of balance sheet lending available to SME customers by the end of 2023. It expects to achieve a 6.7% market share within five years.
Since launching its mobile banking app in May 2017, the bank explains that it has opened 500,000 current accounts. This includes more than 30,000 SME business accounts signed up in less than a year. It will launch a web portal for SME banking customers later this year.
Life is good for the London-based bank at present. Just last week, it raised £75 million in funding for its expansion plans in Europe.
Life is also busy. There are many other challenger banks in the UK. Check out the contenders here.
