Is Starling dead now?

sebtomato

I have been using Starling for several years now and it has been fine as a bank.

The main appeal was no fees, real time notifications for payments made or received, a nice app, and no fees when making payments abroad (with favourable exchange rates).

With Chase now offering cashback on current accounts, innovative rounding feature and pretty good savings account, does that mean Starling is suddenly completely obsolete? I can't see any real reasons to use Starling now for my day-to-day banking compared to Chase (including when travelling abroad).

If Chase (part of JP Morgan, largest bank in the US) is really committed to get UK market shares, I can't see how Starling will compete for long...unless they come with new ideas or match Chase's rate, but can they? I wouldn't want to be in the Starling management team right now.

Daliah

There are tons of features Starling (and Monzo) have that Chase has yet to implement, and which they may or may not want to provide.

sebtomato

Daliah said:

There are tons of features Starling (and Monzo) have that Chase has yet to implement, and which they may or may not want to provide.

Apart from overdrafts (missing from Chase, but apparently being worked on), I am not too sure many others features are truly missing. Chase also has some features that Starling doesn't have, like rounding or numberless physical cards. Creating an account takes about the same time (a few minutes), with the virtual Mastercard loaded right away on the phone.

What's the real competitive advantage now of Starling (and other new banks like Monzo or Revolut)?

Surely, Starling and others are  going to be bleeding customers if Chase can offer cashbacks and a market-leading saving account?

Rob5342

They don't offer pots or joint accounts which are essential for me so I won't be changing yet(I know they let you have multiple accounts but that seems a bit clunky - can you select which account a direct comes out of?)

block10

sebtomato said:

If Chase (part of JP Morgan, largest bank in the US) is really committed to get UK market shares

Chase is already pressure over the cost of UK investment. Wonder if the commitment will fizzle out in a couple of months/years.

"JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon is facing rare investor criticism over a multibillion-dollar plan to modernise the group’s technology and the decision to enter the UK’s highly competitive retail banking market."

marlot

The Starling no-fees self-employed business account still looks unique.

I was looking at Chase, but this puts me off.  "Chase accounts can't receive international payments or CHAPS payments, and we're also unable to accept payments made by cheque."

With Starling, I can just photograph the cheque.

400ixl

It will certainly give those who are still with traditional banks a more viable option when looking to switch. Personally as a Starling account holder I have only opened a Chase account for the savings side. I will not be switching my day to day banking to Chase as it does not offer anything over Starling that is worth me switching for and doesn't have all of the features I use.

So for me, no this is not going to kill Starling, it may take some customers both new and existing though. 

sebtomato

block10 said:

sebtomato said:

If Chase (part of JP Morgan, largest bank in the US) is really committed to get UK market shares

Chase is already pressure over the cost of UK investment. Wonder if the commitment will fizzle out in a couple of months/years.

"JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon is facing rare investor criticism over a multibillion-dollar plan to modernise the group’s technology and the decision to enter the UK’s highly competitive retail banking market."

If JPMorgan was about to change its strategy on entering the retail market in the UK, they wouldn't have announced a leading savings account this week.

Clearly, they are here to get market shares.

sebtomato

400ixl said:

It will certainly give those who are still with traditional banks a more viable option when looking to switch. Personally as a Starling account holder I have only opened a Chase account for the savings side. I will not be switching my day to day banking to Chase as it does not offer anything over Starling that is worth me switching for and doesn't have all of the features I use.

So for me, no this is not going to kill Starling, it may take some customers both new and existing though. 

Maybe it won't be killing Starling today, if the accounts are missing some features, but surely it's going to dent seriously the number of their active customers, attracted by cashbacks and savings and with basic banking needs (like me).

The key question is: is JPMorgan serious about getting market shares, investing in new features etc. Starling is only competing on features, and those took several years to be implemented.

400ixl

I think they will accelerate the shift of people from traditional banking which is what the savings rate will do rather than necessarily shift masses from other challenger banks.

Cashback is a gimmick to buy share, is time bound, and hasn't bought them the share of market they were expecting from what has been reported. Who knows how long the interest rate will last and whether they decide it is worth the long haul for them.

Only reason I have the account at all is because I am holding some equity in short term investment whilst I decide whether I move or expand my current property. As a higher tax payer the interest rate only has a certain amount of value before investing elsewhere makes more sense for the longer term.

I am more interested in seeing what Starling can do with its marketplace than if Chase can catch up with many of the features that others already have. But each to their own and why there isn't one answer.

penners324

Starling does offer rounding though and has for a long time.

Starling also shows pending transactions for direct debits and bacs, chase doesn't. Starling allows cheque scanning, cash pay in at post offices, it's app is far easier to use, international payments, automatic pot sweeps, confirmation of payee.