It’s obvious isn’t it?
Starling has pushed forward with a Banking As Platform model. They’ve embedded the product much more into banking processes whilst at the same time experimented and provided limited proof of concept features (offset overdrafts, loans tied into an overall lending ceiling etc.)
I said over here
that High Street banks would eventually have to migrate their customers from ever increasingly creaky banking mainframes with bits and bobs having been bolted on over the years and with fewer skilled technicians to keep them running every year.
I reckon RBS (or another player, but probably RBS) will buy Starling and use the platform to create new Royal Bank/NatWest/Ulster etc banking products, and slowly migrate over their customers.
I’m afraid current Starling customers have essentially been beta testers for the bigger game, and it wouldn’t surprise me if these customers, having been bought by RBS, see their accounts held by NatWest.
In a generation banks will look pretty different with most branches gone or replaced with smaller stores which just serve as sales showrooms, a bit like Virgin Media shops. You’ll be able to open an account and walk away with a bank card (or simply one in your Apple Pay Wallet will suffice) but it’ll still be opened from an iPad in store.
I reckon this was the vision with which Tom B disagreed so vehemently and so he set up Monzo as a serious long term player. I think Anne’s gameplay all along was to build a platform which could host other banks’ accounts, and provide the architecture.
Lack of real product innovation, reticence to reveal numbers, lack of customer care, lack of 3D Secure and card processor, no need for a forum all make sense with this argument. Starling and Monzo are vying for different ends of the banking experience.
tl;dr Anne has independently built the next gen banking platform for any/all the major players and will hawk it off to the highest bidder. Starling’s current customers have helped beta test the platform but their accounts will be back at a High Street bank in a few years.