Starling Bank, you could say perversely, has joined the big league: it has copped a thumping regulatory fine for having “shockingly lax” controls to combat financial crime, the sort of thing that happens to proper grownup banks.
But, no, the glib line doesn’t work. Read the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)‘s final notice on Starling’s failures and you can understand why the regulator was so damning. The findings tell a tale of shambles and an absence of basic accountability at the top. “The bank built for you”, as the marketing slogan has it, was built on a wing and a prayer when it came to anti-money-laundering controls.
