Anne Elizabeth Boden | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 1960 (age 64) Swansea, Wales |
| Alma mater | Swansea University Middlesex University |
| Occupation(s) | CEO and founder of Starling Bank |
Anne Elizabeth Boden MBE (born January 1960) is a Welsh tech entrepreneur. She is the founder and former CEO of Starling Bank, [1] a UK mobile-only bank, Boden is the first woman to found a British bank. [2] In 2018, she received an MBE for services to financial technology. [3]
Boden was born in Bon-y-maen a suburb of Swansea, the daughter of a steelworker and a department store worker. [1] She attended Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive and graduated from Swansea University in 1981 [4] with a degree in Chemistry and Computer Sciences. [5] Boden reportedly spent much of her childhood reading. [6] After the financial crisis, Boden sold her house in Swansea where she spent her weekends, in order to raise funds and hire staff at her company. [5]
After graduating, Boden had intended puruse a career in information technology, but accepted a job as a graduate trainee with Lloyds Banking Group. [4] [5] She went on to work at Standard Chartered Bank, UBS, and as Chief Information Officer at AON Corporation. [7] Boden later joined ABN AMRO and RBS, serving as Head of EMEA and as head of Global Transaction Banking. [7] At the group, she ran a payments business across 34 countries. [8]
Boden earned her MBA from Middlesex University in 1990 while working for Standard Chartered. [9] In 2011 she served on the Board of Governors of Middlesex University, which awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in July 2018. [10]
She joined Allied Irish Banks in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer [11] to help the bank recover from the financial crisis of 2008. [12]
In 2020 Boden became a member of the board of the trade association for the UK's banks and financial services companies, UK Finance, and also an advisor to the UK government's Board of Trade. [13] She is also a member of the World Economic Forum. [14]
In 2020 Boden published the book Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry. [15]
Boden founded her online banking business in June 2014, originally named Possible Financial Services, [16] with the tagline "Bank Possible". Her objective was to create an entirely on-line bank that gave easier feedback to customers. [13]
In February 2015, co-founder Tom Blomfield departed Starling Bank to found the bank Monzo. [17] The other four directors left with him. [13]
The company rebranded as Starling in January 2016, [16] and received its UK banking licence that year. [18] The Telegraph described the company as "the Amazon of banking" after it received multiple investments from Austrian-born billionaire Harald McPike. [19]
Boden lost her position as majority shareholder in Starling in July 2019 after a large investment from McPike during a series C funding round in February. [20] McPike has to date invested £75m (for a 60% stake) in the company, followed by a £50m share held by Merian Global Investors. [20] The company has raised £233m to date. [20] Boden now holds approximately 25% of the company. [20] The bank currently (Jan 2020) has a reported 275,000 customers in the UK. [7] Boden is a member of Tech Nation's FinTech Delivery Panel [7] and has spoken at industry events such as Money20/20 and Wealth 2.0.
In June 2023 Boden stepped down as Starling CEO after investor clash. [21] Boden remains on the board [22] and she owns 4.9% of Starling. [22]
Boden was awarded an MBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to fintech. [23]
Starling's Anne Boden named CEO of the year at the Digital Masters Awards in 2020. [24]
In July 2023, Boden was awarded an honorary doctorate by Swansea University, from which she had earned her bachelor's degree.
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