Starling Bank first digital challenger to join Faster Payments
Julian Sawyer, chief operating officer at Starling Bank
UK-based Starling Bank has become the “first of the digital-only challengers” to join Faster Payments this week.
It is the 13th direct participant of the Faster Payments Scheme, and Starling says its customers will be able to see where their money is flowing and when in real-time, 24/7.
Joining the board of Faster Payments, Julian Sawyer, chief operating officer at Starling Bank, says: “Given our users are all people who happily manage their lives on their phone, this partnership is a huge step in helping them to better manage their finances through our app.”
Starling says traditionally new bank entrants have connected to the platform via another bank, or a sponsor bank.
However, having previously discussed their intention to join, Starling has tested and integrated Faster Payments into their newly built banking platform and customers are now making payments using the technology to all the major banks.
Dye hard
The bank is getting ready for its 2017 launch.
Anne Boden, Starling’s CEO, told Banking Technology in an interview: “There is no strategic advantage as doing the same as the big banks. We are a small organisation – very well-funded – and all our energy is put into our products that can be transformed the most by technology. The current account is the only product that is crying out for revolution – for something different.”
The bank has received its UK banking licence, got its first batch of debit cards and continues to build its infrastructure.
It has also secured $70 million in funding from Harald McPike, who runs QuantRes, a Bahamas-based private investment firm. Two of Starling’s six board members are QuantRes directors.
For its payments system, the bank uses Bottomline Technologies. The system will include anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC) and credit checks.
