Starling Bank has launched a recruitment search for a group head of investor relations who will be charged with steering the company towards a possible IPO.
The job advertisement says the successful candidate will be expected to "play a role alongside senior management, appointed advisors and underwriters to execute a successful IPO or other capital event."
Implying that an exit is still in embryo, the advertisement states the role will involve supporting the business "in its steps towards its consideration of IPO readiness".
Starling Bank in March appointed Raman Bhatia, the chief executive of energy retailer OVO and former HSBC digital banking lead, as it new CEO.
Valued at £2.5 billion in 2022, Starling iced plans to go public when founder Anne Boden stepped down. Bhatia's appointment is viewed as a potential catalyst for reviving the prospect.
VC firm Chrysalsis believes Starling could reach a valuation of £10 billion at IPO depending on the performance of its SaaS platform Engine, which it says has potential to generate hundreds of millions of pounds a year for the UK digital bank.
Engine is an API-based, cloud native platform initially built by Starling’s own in-house tech team to run the UK bank. In 2022, Starling began offering Engine to other lenders, promising to help them quickly launch new digital services or to replace legacy systems.