During COVID, the UK government needed to distribute emergency business loans. The big banks were slow. We processed Bounce Back Loans faster than anyone — 18% of the entire UK scheme. A four-year-old bank outperforming institutions that are 300 years old.
I was 54 years old when I started Starling. In tech, that makes me ancient. In banking, it means I actually know what I'm doing. I'd spent 30 years inside banks. I knew exactly what was broken.
Monzo has the brand. Revolut has the hype. Starling has the profitability. We became the first UK neobank to turn a profit. Not revenue — profit. In banking, that's the only metric that matters.
I wrote a book called Banking On It. The publisher wanted a subtitle. I suggested: "How I disrupted an industry." They said that sounded arrogant. I said: I'm a woman in her fifties who built a bank from scratch. If that's not disruption, what is?
We have 3.6 million accounts and £10 billion in deposits. For a bank with no branches. Zero. Every single interaction happens on your phone. The branch is dead. Starling proved it.
I didn't build Starling to sell it. I built it to run it. There's a difference. Most fintech founders want an exit. I wanted a bank. A real, profitable, lasting bank.