Challenger brand Starling Bank joins Bacs

Payment system operator sees four new participants in just 12 months

Starling Bank, one of the new breed of mobile-only challenger banks, has joined Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs); the bank becomes the latest participant to offer access to systemically important payment methods, Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit, to its commercial customers from today (19 February).

In the last 12 months alone, four new banks – including Starling – have joined Bacs, providing even wider access to the nation’s most prolific payment system; last year, Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit payments totalled 6.35 billion in number, a new record, with a high of 111.7 million transactions processed on a single day.

Michael Chambers, chief executive officer of Bacs, said: “Bacs has been around for 50 years this year, yet our payment methods clearly still resonate – with bill payers, with billers, and for salary, benefit, and pension payments, demonstrated by the fact that we process more transactions and set new records every year.

“That an exciting challenger brand such as Starling sees merit in being able to provide its commercial customers with a route into our schemes is further endorsement of our payment offering, and I’m thrilled to have this new bank on board.”

Julian Sawyer, Starling Bank’s chief operating officer, commented:  “Our integration with Bacs is the latest instalment in the expansion of Starling’s Payment Services. After joining SEPA in 2017 and announcing the rollout of our Merchant Acquiring services last week, Starling’s customers – both business and personal – will benefit from access to a rich financial ecosystem, now including one of the UK’s largest payment systems.”