Starling Bank to create 150 jobs at new Southampton hub

Fast-growing challenger bank Starling is to a open new office in Southampton by the summer, creating 150 new jobs.

It will be Starling’s first office outside of London and will house up to 50 software engineers and 100 customer service employees.

The move will support the bank’s growth ambitions and comes a month after it won a £100 million grant aimed at boosting competition in the business banking sector.

Starling, which was founded five years ago, has 500,000 current account customers and has raised £233 million from investors to date.

It is one of a host of digital-only banks that have sprung up in recent years aiming to take market share from traditional lenders.

The bank was attracted to Southampton because of its “growing and skilled jobs market, reputation as a burgeoning tech hub, transport links and easy access to London”.

Southampton was recently identified a “super cluster” technology hotspot by CBRE, a property advisory group, for its high employment of technology professionals.

Chief executive Anne Boden said: “We are growing so fast that we are rapidly running out of space in our London offices.

“What really attracts us to Southampton is its entrepreneurial spirit and its level of tech talent.

“We’re looking for new people – engineers as well as customer service team members – to join us in Southampton now and will be expanding the office quickly.”

Starling was awarded £100 million last month from the Royal Bank of Scotland competition remedies fund that aims to break the banking oligopoly of the high street giants by helping smaller firm develop their offering to small businesses.

The fund is paid for the Royal Bank of Scotland and is part of conditions attached to its £45 billion taxpayer bailout at the height of the financial crisis.

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