UK. Starling’s marketplace banking rollout adds pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgages
Starling, the U.K. challenger bank that offers a mobile-only current account, continues to execute on its marketplace banking strategy. Following the required regulatory approval, the Starling Marketplace is adding a number of financial services integrations, spanning pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgage brokerage.
Specifically, Starling is partnering with PensionBee, Wealthsimple, Kasko, and Habito, respectively. It says it’s targeting 25 partnerships in total in 2018. The challenger bank has already added Flux to its in-app marketplace to offer item-level receipts and loyalty from Flux partner merchants.
The addition of financial services speaks to Starling Bank’s broader “marketplace banking” vision: the idea that your bank will provide you with access to a choice of third-party money-related apps and services. It’s also more evidence that the battle between banks and fintechs isn’t a zero sum game. Partnerships are being forged at a rapid pace, either formally or simply through open APIs mandated by Open Banking/PSD2 legislation.
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