Is Starling dead now?

sebtomato

Thrugelmir said:

sebtomato said:

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.

JPM are required to meet the Capital Requirements Directive issued by the BOE. Not as easy as simply rocking up and advertising banking services. 

Given how aggressive they are about acquiring new customers (at a cost), I would say that they are unlikely to change strategy in the short term and exit the retail market, which was your point.

[Deleted User]

Starling isn't dead; it will probably be more of swim or sink situation in short - medium term with Chase & the improving legacy banks. 

The Chase/Starling demographic is likely to be similar and Chase can incrementally add all the bells and whistles than it deems of value.

Daliah

sebtomato said:

Daliah said:

sebtomato said:

Thanks for your patronising comments.

I am still unsure why you picked on Starling as the bank who will feel the competition from Chase to the extent of disappearing. I would say there are one or two other existing, or prospective, UK banks who are at much greater risk of vanishing, though not exclusively because of the entrance of Chase. From a consumer point of view, if a UK bank disappears, this might be a bit annoying but is really of no relevance as we either get transferred to a different bank automatically, or we can move ourselves.

I "picked on" Starling because I am a Starling customer. I don't have accounts with Monzo or other new banks.

After opening my current account with Chase this week (followed by the savings account), I suddenly realised that I am not likely to use Starling anymore, unless they can match cashback and savings rate, which they most likely can't (they don't have the financial power of JP Morgan behind them).

Last week, I was still recommending Starling to friends for ease of opening an account, ease of use, no fees for using abroad etc. This week, I wouldn't. Things change quickly.

I think the difference between your and my banking choices might that you seem to think that you have to do all your banking at one bank. I don't. I just pick and choose their services. For example, I use Santander for DDs, Chase for cashback and now also instant access savings (for as long as these last), Natwest, Nationwide, Skipton and Virgin Media for Regular Savers, Starling for my Euro activities, Halifax for rewards, Barclaycard and Amex for cashback credit cards, Halifax for credit card spending abroad, several currency conversion firms for international money transfers, and many more Virgin Media accounts for more savings. If I was still working, I would probably also have one or two different banks for self-employment.

We have an amazing spread of banks, with no reason for sticking with just one single one of them. Of course, it there was one single bank that always offered the best for everything, I might be tempted to just use that single bank, and I am sure many others would too. I doubt, and hope, however, that we will ever get to the stage where one bank will be the best choice for everything, not least because lack of competition is the death of innovation.

Migster

I think Chase will probably struggle to acquire customers. Sure there is a customer segment that is constantly chasing the best interest rate, cashback, etc, who will sign up with Chase, but those people will move on when a better offer appears elsewhere. Who are the customers who are going to join Chase and stay longer term, especially when the current loss-leading offering is scaled back? 

Daliah

Migster said:

I think Chase will probably struggle to acquire customers. Sure there is a customer segment that is constantly chasing the best interest rate, cashback, etc, who will sign up with Chase, but those people will move on when a better offer appears elsewhere. Who are the customers who are going to join Chase and stay longer term, especially when the current loss-leading offering is scaled back? 

Employees of Chase UK, perhaps? Mind you, you'd expect them to be smart folks and go after the best deals in the market.

Alex9384

Chase also doesn't show up on any credit file and it cannot be switched to/from.

Alex9384

I wouldn't compare Revolut to any of them.
Revolut is not a bank and they allow stock and crypto trading/investing, several accounts in various currencies, plus virtual cards for online shopping that are "burned" as soon as you use them once.

eskbanker

sebtomato said:

Is Starling dead now?

Nah, it's just resting.  Beautiful plumage though....

Marchitiello

marlot said:

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.

I guess the above citation is in the T&C but as I mentioned in the original Chase thread, it took me few minutes to extrapolate my Chase’s IBAN (as well as BIC/SWIFT) and make an international payment to it via Wise using that… so it may not be officially supported but in practice it works. Not sure about chaps

sebtomato

Daliah said:

I think the difference between your and my banking choices might that you seem to think that you have to do all your banking at one bank. I don't. 

Not really. My main bank account used for getting money in (e.g. salary) and pay direct debits is with First Direct. My mortgage is with them too.

I also have Starling, but mainly for paying abroad (no fees) or getting payments in Euros (Euro account). I had started using Starling to make day to day purchases, because I like the instant notifications. However, Chase is supporting the same, as well as cashback, so won't be using Starling for that anymore.

I have moved my savings to Chase also, as there is nothing beating the rate currently, without committing to long term.

As a conclusion, only keeping Starling now for the Euro account, which I won't be using much. I am curious on how they are going to compete with Chase.