Anne Boden


Anne Elizabeth Boden is a Welsh tech entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Starling Bank, a UK mobile-only bank. In 2018, she received an MBE for services to financial technology.

Early life

Boden grew up in Swansea, the daughter of a steelworker and a department store worker. She was a pupil at Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive and graduated from Swansea University with a degree in Chemistry and Computer Sciences.

Career

After graduating, she began her career at Lloyds Banking Group which was followed by spells at Standard Chartered Bank, UBS, and as Chief Information Officer at AON Corporation. Boden later joined ABN AMRO and RBS, serving as Head of EMEA and as head of Global Transaction Banking. At the group, she ran a payments business across 34 countries.
She joined Allied Irish Banks in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer to help turn round the bank's fortunes after the financial crisis of 2008.
Boden earned her MBA from Middlesex University in 1990 while working for Standard Chartered. In 2011 she served on the Board of Governors of Middlesex University, which awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in July 2018.

Starling Bank

Boden founded her online banking business in June 2014, first named as Possible Financial Services with the tagline "Bank Possible".
In February 2015 the bank was hit by a series of departures, including the exit of Tom Blomfield, who is the current CEO of rival neo-bank Monzo.
The company rebranded as Starling in January 2016, and received its UK banking licence that year. The Telegraph described the company as "the Amazon of banking" after it received multiple investments from Austrian-born billionaire Harald McPike.
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. McPike has to date invested £75m in the company, followed by a £50m share held by Merian Global Investors. The company has raised £233m to date. Boden now holds approximately 25% of the company. The bank currently has a reported 275,000 customers in the UK.

Personal life

Boden was born in Bon-y-maen near Swansea. Her father was a steelworker and her mother worked in a department store. Boden sold her house in Swansea after the financial crisis in order to raise funds and hire staff at her company.
She is a member of the Tech Nation's FinTech Delivery Panel and she has spoken at key industry events like Money20/20 and Wealth 2.0. In 2019 she received an MBE for services to financial technology.