In total the FCA fined Starling Bank £28,959,426, which now has 3.6m customers, having grown rapidly from 2017 when it only 43,000 people using the online only banking service.

The FCA identified ‘serious concerns’ around the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) sanctions framework, saying: ‘Starling’s senior management as a whole lacked the experience and capability to effectively implement the Voluntary Requirement (VREQ), specifically they lacked the required AML skills or experience.

‘This resulted in an inadequate design of the financial crime VREQ risk management framework.’

Additionally, the FCA claimed the bank ‘did not fully recognise its regulatory obligations’.

After notifying the bank of this in 2021, Starling Bank agreed to not open accounts for high risk customers until the framework was improved.