Banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Lloyds Bank have reportedly expressed interest in buying one of the leading UK challenger banks, Starling bank. This comes as JP Morgan plans to launch a consumer bank in the UK by next year, The Times reports.
If the deal goes through it will be the world’s biggest merger of a traditional lender with a startup in England. By press time the sources of the information were still unknown.
The reports add that Lloyds bank is attracted to Starling’s technology.
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Starling has established itself in the challenger bank field having launched back in 2017. The company has its main stakeholders as Bermuda-based Harry McPike and Merian Global investors.
Starling Bank make first profit
The development comes as Starling Bank announced that it had made its first profit of $1.1 million in October. Over the summer, the company also registered more users.
The increasing number of users can be linked to the fact that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, digital banking platforms witnessed a lot of attention. Most people turned to digital platforms as banking halls were shunned due to COVID-19 measures.
Starling also had the green light to issue government-backed loans as a way of cushioning individuals and businesses from the effects of the coronavirus.
Furthermore, the interest is from the fact that Starling Bank recently opened a data room with a plan to raise £20o milion in new funding. Notably, Starling bank founder Anne Boden has shown interest to enrol the platform on the stock market.
By the time of writing, both JP Morgan and Lloyd bank had not commented on the issue.
