A swanky bank, a luxurious office, and a reputation that precedes the name—why would anyone leave all this behind to forge a new career in an area of their least expertise? Say hello to Anne Boden, a former bigwig at Starling Bank and now plunging headfirst into the cutting-edge world of AI world with her new company, AI by Boden.
Anne Boden: The driving force behind Starling Bank
From Swansea with an MBA from Middlesex University, Boden started out as a determined, and ambitious career woman. Her life changed dramatically in 2014 when she created Starling Bank. But what truly sets this venture apart? The answer lies in Starling’s innovative approach to banking. At that time, mobile banking was essentially an online version of traditional banking. Boden recognized the frustrations associated with account opening and the limitations of existing mobile services. She envisioned a streamlined solution, leading to the creation of Starling Bank, which quickly became synonymous with hassle-free mobile banking.
This approach revolutionized financial management, tackling common issues like poor money management and lack of spending visibility. Starling Bank is widely recognised for its innovative transformation of the banking experience
The bank’s performance is a testament to its success. Starling Bank is the first challenger bank to make a pre-tax profit of £32. 1 million for the year ending on 31st March 2022, with revenues of £188 million. This success continued with a pre-tax profit of £195 million on revenues of £453 million in the year ending on March 31, 2023. By March 2024, the company reported a remarkable pre-tax profit of £301.1 million.
The bank is expecting to grow profits through the launch of its Banking-as-a-Service proposition Engine, which has already bagged 2 clients from Australia and Romania.
Starling Bank has also sought out strategic partnerships to increase its market share. In 2023, the bank partnered with many fintech startups and other financial service providers to include complementary technologies and a larger scope of services. These types of partnerships are intended to strengthen the bank’s ecosystem by offering the customers more complete financial products and services.
Additionally, Starling still has been seeking ways to expand internationally. The bank is currently looking at possible marketplaces to expand into, it has a very profitable business model and is looking to expand to new geographical and customer segments.
Many companies talk about the pay gap between the genders but Starling Bank has found a way to decrease unpaid labor gaps too through the Share the Load campaign. They launched this campaign to fully grasp much more of the mental load women carry at home. In the results, it turns out a lot! So, in response to this bias, Starling Bank built the Share the Load tool. The innovative tool helps couples, families, and housemates keep track of and evaluate the chores done by each of the members. When done correctly, the tool helps each member of the house to have an equal mental load on household chores.
In 2020, Starling Bank was also part of the If Not Now When campaign that has many CEOs and companies as its signatories. The campaign is committed to taking practical, long-term action to boost Black inclusion in the workplace
Starling Bank had gone through a rebranding in January 2016. “The Bank Built for You” campaign emphasizes the idea that banking isn’t just about the money, but about the transaction in itself, and it shows how Starling’s innovative money management tools can work into the fabric of everyday life. The campaign subtly hints at the way the bank develops its products, how it constructs the features that the customers demand and makes the experience people-friendly.
The path to success was not without obstacles. Co-founder Tom Blomfield left in early 2015 to start Monzo, a rival digital-only bank. With those types of exits, and the departure of other major directors, Starling Bank might not have grown as much. Nevertheless, Boden’s steadfast leadership and commitment to her vision played a crucial role in navigating these challenges.
A significant development occurred in 2019 when Starling Bank secured £233 million in funding from prominent investors, including Merian Global Investors. Despite this, Boden remained a key figure in the company, holding a minority stake and continuing to influence its strategic direction. Boden’s leadership was further highlighted through her role on Tech Nation’s FinTech Delivery Panel and her appearances at major industry events such as Money20/20 and Wealth 2.0.
Anne Boden’s innovative ventures
Anne Boden’s first book, ‘Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry and Changed the Way We Manage our Money Forever’, gave us a look into her life as an entrepreneur and her belief that digital banking will change the world. In her second book “The Money Revolution: Easy Ways to Manage Your Finances in the Digital World”, she shines a spotlight on how we save, spend, and invest our money. By adopting a few new behaviours, she tells us how to transform your bank balance for the better. Her third book was released in early 2024 and was named “Female Founders’ Playbook – Insights from the Superwomen Who Made It”. This book made itself into the list of many people’s ‘To read’ list. This book talks about a step-by-step guide to creating a billion-dollar company from conceiving a unicorn idea, to assembling a multifaceted team, to fundraising in a world where only 2p out of every £1 of equity investment is awarded to all female founding teams.
In addition to her writing, Boden is a strong advocate for women in business. She is the Chair of the Women-led High Growth Enterprise Taskforce and is an advocate for women in business and technology. Her leadership was recognized in 2020 when she was named CEO of the Year at the Digital Masters Awards. Her contributions to both the fintech sector and her alma mater were further honoured when Swansea University awarded her an honorary doctorate in July 2023.
The journey of Anne Boden is interesting, like a voyage of steadfast creativity and visionary leadership. With her pioneering work in the banking industry, especially the founding of Starling Bank, she has changed a centuries-old industry. She identified the limitations of traditional mobile banking and introduced an approach that focused on usability and customer delight. Such a pioneering model has started setting benchmarks for services. Now, Boden has entered into the intelligence world with her latest project, AI by Boden. This has been a strategic move underlining her ability to keep ahead of trends while presenting her at the same time as a catalyst for innovation in another rapidly changing field. Her foray into AI underlines the undying passion she has for applying technology to deal with pressing issues and further enhancing the user experience.
Anne Boden’s story is a reflection of how committed she has been to the growth of business and society in general. Indeed, she is already an accomplished benchmark within banking and an advocate of technological advancement. Given her lasting impact on finance and technology, it’s clear that Boden’s legacy will continue to inspire future generations and set new standards in entrepreneurship and beyond.
The thing that all these businesses [Amazon, Facebook, and Google] have in common is they are disruptors. The foundations of their businesses are not unique. They have identified a problem that a large number of people were experiencing with an existing business or service and then found a way to make it more accessible/fast/cheap/efficient.
-Anne Boden in her book ‘Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry and Changed the Way We Manage our Money Forever’