By Roger Baird on Monday 4 February 2019
The digital-only bank, which expects to top one million customers this year, said the new account is a simple was to ‘send and receive euros for free’.
Digital-only bank Starling has launched a euro account as the UK braces itself for Brexit next month.
The bank said its Starling euro account will be phased in from today and is aimed at offering a “secure and simple way to hold, send and receive euros for free”.
It said the account is useful for a number of customers including European expats living in the UK who send money back home, those who work in the UK but are paid in euros, and workers who frequently move between Eurozone countries.
The London-based business said demand for the account is “high”, adding that “thousands of customers” have signed up to its waiting list to receive the service since September.
Last month, the bank said its customer base jumped from 50,000 to over 400,000 in 2018, while staff numbers leapt from 130 to top 300 over the same period. Its founder and chief executive Anne Boden expects the firm to hit one million customers this year.
Customers need to have a personal current account with Starling to open a euro account. It adds that its debit cards will be connected to the euro account, later this year. However, the account will not carry overdrafts or loans.
Boden said: “Whatever happens with Brexit, the UK will always retain strong ties with Europe. The first phase of our euro accounts offer is a landmark moment as Starling sets European expansion in its sights for 2019.”
Britain is due to leave the European Union in 53 days on 29 March, however, Parliament remains deeply divided over how, or even if, the country should leave the EU.
