Starling The company has just achieved its third year of profitability as it plans to expand its software business.
The UK neobank announced on Wednesday (June 12) Annual Reportreported a 54.7% increase in pre-tax profit to 301.1 million pounds ($384.3 million). The company’s revenue increased 50.6% to 682.2 million pounds ($870 million), and total deposits rose 4% to 11 billion pounds ($14 billion).
“This year marks our third consecutive year of profitability, demonstrating our strong financial performance.” John MountainThe company’s interim CEO is press release.
“This has been a landmark year for Starling, as we have become a global provider of SaaS for banking through our subsidiary, Engine by Starling. We have invested heavily in Engine because we are confident that the company can grow to be as big or bigger than any UK bank in the future.”
The company’s total impairment and loan loss provisions rose 39 percent for the year to 13.9 million pounds ($17.7 million), “reflecting the impact of the high interest rate and inflationary environment on customers,” the report said.
Earlier this month, Sterling’s new CEO Raman Bhatia He is due to take up the role on June 24 and said the company will not seek a banking license in Europe and will instead expand internationally through its software business.
“I’m very optimistic about this approach, taking the best parts of Sterling, its market-specific proprietary technology, its unique regulatory regime, its capital requirements, building trust and internationalizing the brand extension, which are unproven in any plan,” Bhatia told CNBC last week.
Starling previously offered banking services to customers, most of whom were in the UK, but had sought a banking licence in Ireland to expand and gain access to the EU. It withdrew its application two years ago.
But Bhatia said Sterling would not reapply, but would instead seek to branch out into new territory by selling its banking-as-a-service (BaaS) software product, Enjin, to bank customers.
Meanwhile, Mountain said Wednesday that Sterling Potential Initial Public Offering An IPO is in “intense discussion” with investors but the bank has not said when that might happen, but Bloomberg News reports that executives have noted that Starling’s British status makes London the “natural place” for the listing.
Last week, another UK-based neobank reported a profitable year. Monzo Pre-tax profits were $144m (£15.4m), compared with a loss of £116.3m a year earlier.
