Starling CEO Anne Boden says the fledgeling bank is pulling away from its loss-making fintech peers as revenues soared by 600% to nearly £97.6 million in the 16 months to March 2021.
Starling broke even for the first time in October 2020, and has recorded a profit every month since then, halving losses to £23.3 million from the £52.1 million recorded in November 2019.
During this time, the company's deposit base has grown to £5.8 billion, while customer accounts more than doubled to 2.1 million and lending shot up to £2.2 billion from a very low base.
Growth has continued apace for the first quarter to June 2021, with revenues hitting £42.8 million and cash on deposit rising to £6.7 billion. A typical SME customer in credit at Starling held an average balance of £13,000+. For retail customers the figure stood at £2,000+.
Boden says the pandemic has been a game-changer for the business: "We rolled out more than £2 billion of lending and introduced innovative products and features to support our customers’ changing needs. And we proved our business case, combining a great experience with low fixed costs to generate profits. This has allowed us to pull away from the fintech pack."
On the potential for a future IPO, Boden says: "Let me make this clear, an IPO is our goal, but we will seek a listing when it is right for our business, not just because it is fashionable to fit in with the pack."