Starling Bank founder Anne Boden is stepping down as chief executive next month, opening the door for her replacement to lead the banking startup into an initial public offer.
Chief operating officer John Mountain, the company's technology expert, will take over as interim chief executive officer, while the digital bank conducts an international search for a permanent chief executive officer.
Boden, who will remain on the board as a non-executive, said: “Now that we have grown from being an aspiring challenger to an established bank, it is clear the roles and priorities of a CEO and a large shareholder ultimately differ and require distinct approaches.”
As the company evolves and grows, she said separating her roles of founder and CEO “is in the bank’s best interests”.
Less than 18 months ago Boden said an IPO was “one or two years away”, which would suggest the board and advisers had been planning to float at least by the end of 2023 and so would be looking to hire a new CEO with public company experience.
Perhaps it has even been suggested by prospective institutional investors in an IPO.
Starling recently reported a sixfold growth of pre-tax profits to £195mln in the year to March, from revenue more than doubled to £453mln, up from £216mln a year earlier. Customer deposits increased 17% £10.6bn and total lending 49% to £4.9bn.
In April last year Starling completed a fundraising of £130.5mln from existing investors, which valued the lender at more than £2.5bn pre-money.
That compares to a pair of FTSE 250-listed lenders valued at just over £2bn apiece: Virgin Money’s £595mln profit from £1.8bn income and OSB Group’s £531mln profit from a £23.6bn loan book.
Investors recently took fright at a sharp rise in bad debts at Virgin Money, dumping shares in the second-tier lender and putting it into bid target territory, according to analysts.