Starling Bank has reportedly bought a mortgage book worth around £1 billion as it steps up its challenge to the UK's largest banks.
The challenger bank is understood to have bought the home loans portfolio from Kensington Mortgages, which provides financing for consumer typically overlooked by high street banks, such as the self-employed. The news was first reported in the Mail on Sunday.
The latest deal follows Starling's first acquisition in July, when it bought buy-to-let specialist Fleet Mortgages for £50 million in shares and cash.
In a foreword to the paperback edition of her book Banking On It, Starling chief Boden says she no longer sees fellow startups like Monzo as her chief rivals, but the UK's largest incumbent banks.
“The extraordinary experiences of the year 2020 made it clearer than ever that our competitors are now Lloyds, Barclays et al,” she wrote.
Barclays, which she said has around a 15% share of the market, is “now firmly in our sights”.
On track to post its first annual profit for the year ending March 2022, Starling has amassed more than 2.3 million accounts and saw revenue increase by 600% to £97.6million in its most recent set of financial accounts. The challenger is also about to launch in Europe, offering a banking-as-a-service package to businesses and banks.