Starling Bank is exploring expanding to the US by obtaining a banking licence or acquiring a mid-tier bank, as a loosening of regulation opens up opportunities for its banking and software-as-a-service businesses.
Founded in 2014 by former banking veteran Anne Boden, Starling banks and lends to retail customers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and has more than 4m customers and £12.1bn in deposits in its native UK. But unlike its rivals Revolut and Monzo it is yet to branch out to other countries.
Starling’s chief financial officer Declan Ferguson tells Sifted if it goes down the acquisition route, it would replatform the bank it acquired through its SaaS arm Engine as a case study for the technology.
“In trying to unlock that market, we want to own and operate a case study there,” says Ferguson.
“I think there is a really interesting opportunity to own and operate a regulated bank in the US,” he says. “I don’t think that was there two years ago but under the current administration, there’s a vast and deep pool of opportunity.”
The plans are still at an early stage, and Ferguson says the neobank is deliberating the regulatory options available, which could also include applying for a local or national banking licence.
If Starling were to obtain a federal banking licence, it would succeed where other European neobanks have failed. Monzo and Revolut previously applied for US banking licences but both withdrew their applications in 2021 and instead operate in the country through a partner bank.
Ferguson also stressed that it’s not currently clear yet what services the neobank would offer stateside.
“We’re at the early stages of that, but our thesis at the moment is that it would mirror a significant part of our UK banking operations,” he says.
The US push follows a tricky period for the neobank, which has seen its financial controls come under fire, resulting in a fall in profits in its latest annual results covering the year ending March 2025. This was due to a £29m anti-money laundering fine levied by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial regulatory body, and its involvement with a government-backed loan scheme during the Covid pandemic known as the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS).
Towards the end of this financial year, Starling identified a small group of loans made before April 2021 which potentially did not comply with a guarantee requirement, and as a result opted to remove the government guarantee and take a £28.2m provision in this year’s accounts.
