Challenger bank Starling Bank has posted its first annual revenue since its inception and has plans to expand its horizons abroad.
According to its 2022 annual report, the bank generated £32.1 million in pre-tax profit for the year, compared to a loss before tax of £31.5mln in 2021.
In late 2017, the mobile bank became the first challenger bank to be granted approval to offer a range of financial products including an app store.
The bank now employs 1,941 people, as of 2022, an increase on the 1,245 people it employed a year earlier.
The volume of retail and business deposits on the platform rose 55% to £9.03bn in the year through to 31 March 2022, up from £5.83bn in 2021, according to the results statement.
Starling estimates that it now holds an 8% share of the market for small to medium enterprises, up from 5.6% a year earlier.
The average SME deposit size on its platform was £13,700 in 2022, an increase over £12,600 last year.
Chief executive officer Anne Boden said the bank plans to expand internationally, taking its software products to both bank clients and non-banking clients abroad.
“We have achieved our first full year of profitability within five years of launching in app stores in 2017,” she said.
“With this milestone we have established a sustainable business model that allows us to generate our own capital organically and to expand into new markets.”
Key to achieving profitability in 2022 was Starling’s in-house technology, Boden said. The bank also initiated a new mortgage lending strategy that she said allowed it to increase its loans and advances to customers by 45% to nearly £3.27bn.
In 2021 and 2022, Starling received £450mln of capital from new and existing investors.
Internal investors completed its latest £130.5mln round in April, which valued the bank at nearly £2.53bn, more than double the £1.1bn valuation at its Series D round last year.