Abstract

The case ‘Starling Bank’s Anne Boden – The Founder and CEO of a ‘Profitable’ Challenger Bank in the UK’ is about Anne Boden (Anne) and the digital banking startup ‘Starling Bank’ (Starling) which she had started in the UK. Starling operated as a digital bank without having any physical branches. All the banking transactions were done through the mobile app or the website of Starling. Anne faced a lot of challenges in the initial stages of her startup such as securing funds for the startup and dealing with the problem of her directors quitting from the venture during the startup’s early days. Eventually she overcame the challenges and went on to grow her digital bank in the UK. Starling’s business model was a combination of technology and simplicity. Starling focused on sustainable banking in order to differentiate itself from the traditional legacy banks and became a bank that was customer and environment friendly. The sustainable banking initiatives involved the implementation of paperless banking and use of recycled plastic for its debit cards. Finally, the case ponders on the future plans of Starling, the succession plans of Anne and also on the future strategies to counter the competition from other digital as well as traditional banks. It remained to be seen if Anne’s plans bring forth the required results and help Starling to reach newer heights as the ‘starling bird’

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the Founder/CEO’s perspectives on sustainable banking and green banking.
• Analyze the challenges faced by business owners in owning and managing an organization.
• Evaluate the benefits of having a succession plan in business.

Keywords

Sustainable banking; green banking; leadership role; succession planning; entrepreneurship