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 was a pupil at Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive and graduated from Swansea University in 1981 [4] with a degree in Chemistry and Computer Sciences. [5] Boden spent her childhood in bookshops, or the library, or with her head in a second-hand Encyclopaedia Britannica that her father had bought for her during a teachers’ strike. [6] After the financial crisis, Boden sold the house in Swansea where she spent her weekends, in order to raise funds and hire staff at her company. [5]
After graduating, she had intended to go into IT but, as a backup plan, applied for a job as a graduate trainee with Lloyds Banking Group, [4] where her career was launched. [5] This was followed by spells 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 turn round the bank's fortunes after 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]
Anne is a member of the World Economic Forum. [14]
In 2020 Boden released her 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 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 Digital Masters Awards. [24]
Starling Bank named Bank of the year at City AM Awards. [25] [26]
In 2018 Starling won the Best British Bank at the British Bank Award. [27] Starling Bank won Best British Bank award for four years running. [28]
In July 2023, Boden was awarded an honorary doctorate by Swansea University, where she had grown up and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry and computer science that kickstarted her career in fintech.
Zopa Bank Ltd. is a British online bank which offers deposit accounts, personal loans and credit cards. It began as the world's first peer-to-peer lending company in 2005 and gained a full banking licence in 2020. The peer-to-peer side of its business closed in December 2021.
Fintech, a clipped compound of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are regarded as the "ABCD" of fintech. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing, borrowing services, and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies designed to make financial services more accessible to the general public. Fintech companies consist of both startups and established financial institutions and technology companies trying to replace or enhance the usage of financial services provided by existing financial companies.
Starling Bank is a British bank, occasionally referred to as a digital challenger bank or neobank, providing current and business bank accounts in the United Kingdom. Starling Bank is a licensed and regulated bank, founded by former Allied Irish Banks COO, Anne Boden, in January 2014. Since its founding, it has received over £500m of funding.
Rakefet Russak-Aminoach served as President and CEO of Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M. since May 1, 2012, to October 2019. Since September 2020, Russak-Aminoach is the Managing Partner of Team8 Fintech, a company-building platform part of the Team8 Group, focused on building and scaling fintech companies.
Revolut is a global neobank and financial technology company that offers banking services for retail customers and businesses. Headquartered in London, it was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers products including banking services, currency exchange, debit and credit cards virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing "vaults", personal loans and BNPL, stock trading, crypto, commodities, human resources and other services.
Jamie B. Waller is an entrepreneur. He founded the debt collection and outsourcing company, JBW Group, a fintech solutions company, Hito, the private equity firm, Firestarters, and the fintech company Just, where he serves as chair.
OakNorth Bank is a UK bank for scaling businesses that provides loans and both business and personal savings accounts. The bank, which gained regulatory approval in early 2015, was founded by entrepreneurs Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman, who had previously founded Copal Amba. The bank focuses on providing loans of £0.5m–£25m as well as savings accounts.
Monzo Bank Limited, trading as Monzo, is a British online bank based in London, England. Monzo was one of the earliest of a number of new app-based challenger banks in the UK.
Thomas Benjamin Blomfield is a British entrepreneur and a Group Partner at Y Combinator.
Solaris SE is a credit institution licensed in Germany, with headquarters in Berlin and branches in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid and Vilnius.
David Joseph Duffy is an Irish banker, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Virgin Money.
Amali Chivanthi de Alwis MBE FRSA was the CEO of Code First: Girls. Replaced by Anna Brailsford. She is currently UK Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups. She is a board member of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, and the Institute of Coding.
Vinodka "Vin" Murria is a British businesswoman and founder of Advanced Computer Software where she was CEO until it was acquired in 2015. Prior to that she was founder and CEO of Computer Software Group Plc, acquired by Hellman&Friedman in 2007. She works as an investor/advisor to HgCapital.
Tide is a UK financial technology company providing mobile-first banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises. It enables businesses to set up a current account and get instant access to various financial services.
Dame Alison Marie Rose-Slade is a British banker, who was chief executive (CEO) of NatWest Group from November 2019 to July 2023. She became the first woman to lead a major UK lender after leading government investigations into the poor representation of women in business. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours. Later that year, she resigned from her position at NatWest for what she admitted was a "serious error of judgement", after she broke client confidentiality in relation to the closure of Nigel Farage's account.
Alexandra Depledge is a British technology entrepreneur, known best for being the founder and CEO of Resi, and as the founder and former CEO of Helpling, formerly known as Hassle.com. In 2016 she was awarded an MBE for services to the sharing economy.
Sir Rohinton Minoo "Ron" Kalifa is a British entrepreneur. He is the chairman of Network International, and formerly served as the chief executive officer of Worldpay Group from 2002 to 2013, continuing as vice chairman. Kalifa was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours for his work in financial services and technology. He was later knighted in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours.
GoCardless is a fintech company that specialises in bank payments including recurring payments, Direct Debit processing and Open Banking. GoCardless is headquartered in London.
Rishi Khosla OBE is the CEO and co-founder of OakNorth Bank, a British bank.
The development of neobanks in Europe is a trend in the European financial landscape beginning in the 2010s. Neobanks are a type of digital-only bank that offer financial services primarily through mobile and web applications, with little or no reliance on physical branches. The trend was driven by advancements in technology, changing consumer preferences, and supportive regulatory frameworks. Neobanks provide a range of services, including personal accounts, loans, and payment services, with a focus on user-friendly interfaces, low fees, and innovative features. In 2022, European neobank market have generated over 570B transactions.
Media related to Anne Boden at Wikimedia Commons