Starling Bank has won the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority approval to operate as a bank. The bank is a mobile-only bank. When formally launched in January 2017, the high-tech will offer only one product – a current account. It expects to be able to offer customers clear detail about the state of their finances, alongside specific analysis of their spending habits. It is headed by Anne Boden, the former chief operating officer of Allied Irish Bank. She hopes to be able to win customers over as they become more used to mobile banking. Starling anticipates rapid growth of the overall market, with the number of mobile banking customers in the UK rising from 17.8 million to 32.6 million by 2020.
