Starling Bank, the UK digital bank, this week launches Online Banking, a web app enabling its 66,000 business and sole trader account customers to better manage their Starling account on their desktop or laptop as well as direct from their smartphone.
The banking web app will give small business customers unrivalled flexibility in how they manage their money, so they can:
- Set up payments, add payees and edit standing orders
- See their bank balance and list of transactions in real time
- View and export statements to CSV or PDF and save them straight to their desktop
- See what they’re spending on rent, travel, supplies – or food for the office dog – with automatic categorisation
- Lock their business card if they’ve lost it or turn off online payments or cash withdrawals
- Set money aside in Savings Goals for their tax bill or new equipment
Online banking was a key feature promised by Starling earlier this year when it was awarded a £100m grant from the Capabilities and Innovation Fund, designed to increase competition and innovation in business banking.
Web access was also high on the list of requested features from Starling’s business customers. Christina Hsieh, a Starling customer and founder of structural engineering company CH Simple Design, said: “I love the fact that I can do my business banking on the go. But when I’m not out and about, I want to do my business banking in a different way and now I have that option. It feels more complete.”
To get started, they will simply have to visit Starling’s Online Banking secure login page, enter both their account and mobile numbers and then tap the notification sent to their mobile.
Starling’s online bank is available to business and sole trader customers and will be extended to personal and joint account holders at a later date.
Starling Bank founder and CEO Anne Boden said: “Customers asked; we delivered. Many small business owners told us they wanted to be able to bank online as well as on their mobiles, as their businesses grow and become more complex.
By making accounts accessible on laptops and desktops, we’re giving our customers even more flexibility to bank the way that best suits them and to get on with doing what they do best: running their businesses. At Starling we never stand still – this is just one of a suite of new features we are building.”
