DIGITAL BANKING – a first for any challenger bank – with pre-tax profits of £ 301.1m( US $ 407m) on revenues of £ 682.2m( US $ 923m), serving 4.2 million customers.
But Anne’ s vision extended beyond UK retail banking. She launched Engine by Starling, a Banking-as-a-Service platform allowing other institutions to leverage Starling’ s technology globally.
This wasn’ t about building one bank – it was about exporting British fintech innovation worldwide.
Recognition followed achievement. Anne received an MBE for services to fintech in 2018, served on UK Finance’ s board, chaired the government’ s women-led, high-growth enterprise taskforce and regularly spoke at events like Money20 / 20.
Beyond banking Anne’ s influence extended far beyond one successful bank. She proved established financial services could be challenged, customer experience revolutionised, and profitable challenger banking achieved.
Unlike rivals pursuing“ loss-making, hyper-growth strategies,” Starling maintained a cautious approach that proved vindicated.
74 September 2025