BANKING ON IT
Starling Bank, Revolut, Monzo and Atom. That’s just a few of the challenger banks vying to dominate the UK market and, in some cases, further afield. What’s more, the global pandemic has made the value proposition for these branchless, cloud-native banks all the more relevant. Competition is fierce with each trying to outdo one another with new features and enhanced offers to customers. The fintech sector is vibrant in the UK and it’s clear that challenger banks like Starling Bank and Revolut are not only competing amongst themselves but also with the incumbent banks which they are trying to displace.
When I heard that Anne Boden, the founder and CEO of Starling Bank had released her latest book BANKING ON IT I knew that it would be a fascinating read. Building a challenger bank from scratch in just over 6 years is a remarkable feat by any standard and one which would generate some really unique insights. After reading BANKING ON IT, I can definitely say that I wasn’t disappointed.
The book reads almost like a fly on the wall account with Boden taking the reader back to July 2012 as she started her new job as the COO of Allied Irish Banks (AIB) in Dublin. As a senior banker with decades of experience, Boden had been brought in to revive a bank that had been hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis. The author made significant efforts to redefine AIB by driving forward the digital agenda to improve customer experience. However, she quickly faced the common issues of bureaucracy, misaligned incentives and legacy technology that so often stifle the efforts of innovative people in large companies. The author came to realise that if she wanted to deliver value through amazing customer experience and technology she would have to start from scratch. She would have to build such a bank herself.
The book follows Boden through the early days of setting up the banking startup that would later be known as Starling Bank. She relied on consultants from PwC and KPMG to help build out the initial structure and the application for the banking licence that was essential for going forward. She also made some key hires including Tom Blomfield who would later go on to co-found Monzo. Boden describes in great detail the pain points of seeking supporters and funding in a male dominated investment arena. Boden talks about how she travelled far and wide to pitch for investment and support for her new venture. Around this time, the relationship between Boden and Blomfield started to fracture. This ultimately culminated in a failed effort by Blomfield to lead Starling Bank and replace Boden as CEO. This part of the book provides some great insights into strong leadership and how to keep pushing forward in what can be a very political business.
At one point, Starling Bank was nearly a one-person shop, with the future of the bank firmly placed on Boden’s shoulders. Her sheer persistence comes through her writing which was very inspiring to read. The author describes how she hustled, sought advice from everywhere and anywhere, even relying on former colleagues to help keep the business alive. It’s clear that Boden’s expertise and experience as a successful banker opened doors for her and helped her make progress in areas where others would simply have failed. However, this doesn’t detract from the heroic efforts that she made to ensure that her dream remained alive.
Following this period of volatility, Boden describes in fantastic detail how she rebuilt the team with a focus on technology being the core of the business. She secured a series of significant investments, fought the fallout of Blomfield’s departure that was well-documented in the press and secured that all important banking licence before her competitors. With the licence secured, the author described the process of building a beta version of the app at break-neck speed and hitting £1 million in deposits. Boden finished the book at the height of the pandemic, so the story of Starling Bank is by no means finished, you could say it’s only just getting started. What’s clear from this excellent account is that there are no shortcuts in start-up land and that mistakes are inevitable. Boden makes sure to remind us that this aside, if you get it right the opportunities are endless.
You can find a copy of BANKING ON IT: How I Disrupted an Industry here.