Starling Bank Revenues Rise 600%

Starling today releases a trading update for the quarter to 30 June 2021 and its report and accounts for the period ending 31 March 2021. The results demonstrate strong and responsible growth, continued profitability and a stable fixed cost base.

Starling’s 2021 annual report and accounts cover a period of 16 months, from 1 December 2019 to 31 March 2021. The bank changed its financial year-end from 30 November to 31 March, to help stakeholders better compare financial results on a quarterly basis. From 2022 onwards the report will cover a regular 12 month period ending on 31 March every year.

For the period to 31 March 2021, revenue rose by nearly 600% to £97.6 million, from £14 million for the previous period, ending 30 November 2019, while loss after tax more than halved to £23.3 million from £52.1 million.

Starling’s deposit base grew by nearly 500% to £5.8 billion (2019: £1 billion), while customer account numbers more than doubled to 2.1 million (2019: 926,000) and lending shot up to £2.2 billion from a very low base. Starling broke even for the month of October 2020 and has recorded a profit every month since then.

Results from Starling’s latest trading update show that revenue reached £42.8 million in the three months to the end of June 2021, Q1 of its current financial year, putting the bank’s annualised revenue run rate at more than £170 million.

Starling continues to add new accounts – at the rate of one every 34 seconds. As of 30 June 2021, Starling has more than 2.3 million open accounts; 1.8 million retail current accounts, 374,000 accounts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 126,000 euro and US dollar accounts.

As at 30 June 2021, its share of the UK small business banking market reached 6.3%, up from 3% a year earlier. Its deposits reached more than £3.9 billion for its SME customers and more than £2.8 billion for retail customers.

A typical SME customer in credit at Starling holds an average balance of £13,000+. For retail customers, the figure stands at £2,000+.

Anne Boden, CEO of Starling, said: “Starling is pulling away from the rest of the Fintech pack. Now that we are profitable and growing responsibly, we’re gaining momentum, generating our own capital, and executing on our strategy to expand lending.”

Doug Mackenzie – Fintech Finance

Starling’s impressive Annual Report has shown some incredible figures but the real success goes beyond the numbers. The strategy and the direction that Anne Boden and her organisation are following is of their own making, their own story. Boden has described the situation as “Starling is pulling away from the rest of the Fintech pack. Now that we are profitable and growing responsibly, we’re gaining momentum, generating our own capital, and executing on our strategy to expand lending.”

While their competitors take the headlines for insane growth and investment rounds, of which Starling’s are also sizable, Anne Boden is following the blueprint she laid down from the very beginning. Boden will not take the company public just because it is the fashionable thing to do nor will Starling seek “customers just for the sake of having customers.” A common question asked of Boden is to reflect on the disparity between the number of open accounts compared to their competition. FF are pointed to the gap between the deposit base of their competitors, with Starling Bank growing by “nearly 500% to £5.8 billion (2019: £1 billion)”. With Monzo’s at around £461.8m in Feb 2019 (Monzo). Monzo’s customers are getting coffees while Starling’s are getting groceries.