The Starling Bank app is displayed on a person’s phone.
Adrian Dennis | AFP through Getty Pictures
London-British Online Debt Starling Bank reported a sharp decline in an annual profit on Wednesday, referring to a regulatory penalty on Covid-Age business debt fraud and financial criminal failures.
Starling, which offers fee -free current accounts and loan services through mobile app, has given profit from the year ending the year ended March 31, 2025, reduced by 26% from year to year.
The revenue in the bank was 14 714 million, with a year ago, from 2 682 million to about 5%. However, it is slowed down by the growth of more than 50% of Starling in the financial year of 2024.
The UK Finance Authority has been affected by the Billion 29 million fines on failures related to Starling’s financial crime prevention systems.
The Starling Flag has the problem with a bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) designed to provide funds to firms during the Coronavirus epidemic.
Starling is one of several banks that have approved a loan to Kovid -19 outbreak companies in 2020. The scheme provided a 100% guarantee to the lender, the government responsible for the responsibility of covering the full dues if the borrower defaults.
However, Starling said that “BBLS has recognized a group of debts” due to weaknesses in its historic fraud inspection. After flagging into a state -owned British Business Bank, the firm subsequently “volunteer to remove the government’s guarantee about those loans”.
“As a result, we have taken a 28.2 million provision in this year’s accounts,” the bank said, both FCA Fine and BBLS.
However, Starling said that by March 31 for some BBLS loans, Starling said the expected loan loss provision is “the guarantee provided under the BBLS guarantee agreement is no longer available to the company.”
“This is a heritage thing. We have dealt with the British Business Bank with a transparent and full cooperation,” Starling’s Chief Financial Officer Deklan Ferguson said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Starling has been serving as a licensed bank in the UK since 2018. It counts the Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and Qatar Investment Authority as shareholders.
Lastly, the company was privately worth 2.5 billion in 2022, and the company faces a huge competitor from the current banks and rival Finteks like Monzo and Revolat.
