Breaking: Anne Boden to step down as Starling Bank CEO, as bank reports record profits of £195m

In a surprise announcement, Anne Boden, the CEO and founder of Starling Bank, will be stepping down at the end of June.

Starling’s COO John Mountain will take over as interim CEO while the company conducts an international search for a permanent CEO.

The news came as Starling announced its 2022 annual results, reporting a doubling of revenue during the year to 31 March 2023 to £453m and a six-fold increase in pre-tax profits to £195m.

Boden’s decision to step down is due to her dual roles as CEO and founder with a large shareholding in the business, which ultimately she believes require “different and distinct approaches”.

“Now it’s no longer appropriate for a business of this size to have a Founder CEO,” Boden told journalists, explaining that the decision was “very much in Starling’s best interest”.

She said the decision had been her own and had been made over the last six months, with no pressure from regulators or the board.

Boden, who holds 4.9 per cent of the equity in Starling and controls 18.5 per cent of its voting rights, will step down on 30 June, however, will remain on the bank’s board as a non-executive director.

As part of Starling’s results, the bank reported total lending of £4.9bn (up from £3.3bn in 2022). 

The majority of this lending is now mortgage lending, accounting for £3.43bn of the total, being originated via Starling’s Fleet Mortgages subsidiary.

Starling’s CFO Declan Ferguson told AltFi that “we will be bringing another mortgage product to the marketing over the coming months.”

Addressing her next steps, Boden told AltFi that: “I’m not going to start another bank, Starling is absolutely perfect.”

“My time is going to be spent on two things, firstly being a shareholder director on Starling and we have a very interesting and ambitious future ahead of us, and that is going to take a substantial amount of my time."

"And as I’ve said before, the women-led high-growth enterprise taskforce where I’m passionate about giving more women the opportunity of succeeding the way I’ve succeeded.”