Starling Bank, a digital, mobile-only challenger bank, has entered into a partnership with Post Office, a retail post office company in the UK, to provide everyday banking services to its customers.
Image: Starling Bank strikes partnership with Post Office. Photo: courtesy of Starling Bank.
The partnership, which has been created in an effort to tackle bank branch deserts, will enable the current and business account customers of Starling Bank to deposit and withdraw cash through the 11,500 branches of Post Office across the UK.
Currently, the customers of the challenger bank manage their entire banking work through their mobile phone, whether it is setting up an account or making payments and tracking spending.
The partnership is expected to offer additional physical infrastructure to withdraw and deposit cash easily. It will also give consumers physical account access in addition to their mobile banking.
Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden said: “There are now over 1,500 communities in the UK with no bank branch, so by combining Starling’s cutting-edge digital banking technology with the unique reach of Post Office branches, we can bring simple and affordable banking back to these Bank Branch Deserts.
“I set up Starling Bank with the mission of improving financial health and making banking about the customer again. This is exactly the kind of development that will help us achieve this, returning banking services to often forgotten communities.”
For Post Office, the partnership takes the total number of banks under its banking framework to 28.
Post Office banking services director Martin Kearsley said: “We’re delighted to welcome Starling Bank as our latest banking partner. By bringing together this award-winning digital bank with the Post Office’s physical network, we’re able to offer Starling’s customers – both personal and business – greater flexibility, choice and access in terms of how and when they do their everyday banking.”
Last month, the challenger bank said that it is expanding its banking-as-a-service and payment services by offering, bringing white label banking services to the UK, thereby allowing other organizations to provide retail banking and make payments.
Starling Bank said that companies by accessing its cloud-based banking-as-a-service technology through its APIs can launch their own bank accounts and provide payment services like debit cards to their customers.