From launching a bank to launching a software business

10 year collaboration

PwC and Starling Bank—collaborating for business model reinvention.  

4 continents

Engine by Starling—expanding its reach with the help of PwC's industry expertise and global network.  

12 month accelerated delivery

Faster access to innovative, cost-effective solutions—thanks to Engine by Starling, with support from PwC. 

1 team

Working together to revolutionise banking.

Starling Bank launched in 2017 as Britain’s first digital bank––a forward-thinking and fully digital alternative to traditional banking. Within six years, Starling had captured about 9% of the small-and-medium-business banking market, while empowering millions of customers to realise their financial goals.

Banks are under increasing pressure to evolve. Customers now expect seamless, digital-first experiences—that are fast, affordable and sustainable. But legacy systems and high operational costs slow traditional banks down. Siloed product lines create inefficiencies, making it difficult to deliver the streamlined services today’s market demands.

The key to Starling’s success? Their single, cloud-native banking platform, Engine, which was built entirely in-house. Engine provides everything needed to run a feature-rich, cost-effective digital bank, offering end customers greater access and control while driving down operational costs. Early on, PwC and Starling realised Engine’s potential appeal to banks across the industry.

Many banks attempt to build their own digital solutions, only to realise they need multiple systems to achieve what Engine delivers in one integrated solution. Recognising this opportunity, Starling worked with PwC, leveraging PwC’s deep industry expertise and regulatory guidance, to reimagine the possibilities—expanding from banking to launch a Software as a Service (SaaS) business.

The Engine platform is built for speed and scale. Modular, API-based and cloud-native, it empowers financial services organisations to launch digital banking propositions fast—or modernise existing systems seamlessly.

Seizing on the opportunity, Starling created a separate company with its own leadership and board. This brought focus, autonomy and the ability to move fast. The new company, Engine by Starling, now had a singular vision—a 'North Star’—which created clarity of purpose, allowing the company to move with confidence and drive progress at every stage. PwC committed to a strategic alliance and by combining their ingenuity, banking expertise and leading-edge technology, it was clear Engine could enable the world’s most innovative banks.

The new company built its team purposefully—prioritising tech expertise from the start. “We didn’t just make bankers run a tech company, we let people do what they were best at. We also strengthened governance at the board level, hiring more people with tech backgrounds,” explains Sam Everington, Engine by Starling’s CEO. The result? A company driven by innovation.

Like other tech companies, embracing a culture of change and iteration is critical to its evolution. “Other banks might make two or three platform changes a year,” explains Steve Davies, Banking and Capital Markets at PwC UK. “The Engine team is used to doing 30 to 40 a day.” With data-driven insights—and security built into design and development as default—teams break challenges down to smaller problems they can solve rapidly. “This creates a flywheel in the organisation where curiosity leads to action,” says Davies. “If something doesn’t work, you can dial it back. If it works, you keep going. This is very different from how traditional banks operate.”

The teams have taken the same iterative approach to collaboration as they have to innovation. From securing clients to advising on compliance, even embedding PwC professionals in local markets, the partnership runs on trust built over a decade. “Over time, you create different types of investment—business, personal and friendships. These connections allow you to think differently and challenge your own organisation,” says Davies. “PwC and Engine have a strong relationship with mutual success. There’s a high degree of trust.”

Engine has set its sights on global expansion, launching in multiple markets and supporting clients worldwide. PwC understands the product, the business and the industry. “Their awareness of competitive drivers and regulatory pressures is invaluable,” says Everington. PwC’s industry expertise helped attract clients and break into new markets faster. “You can’t have that without people who have been in front of the industry for decades,” says Everington.

Engine is tech-powered, human-focused

The success of Starling in the UK and the opportunities to use its technology through Engine generated significant interest from numerous banks around the world eager to harness the platform to power their own digital transformation.

The first was AMP Bank, a leading financial services provider in Australia and New Zealand. Looking to boost deposits, AMP set its sights on an underserved market: small businesses and sole traders for whom traditional banking is either too complex or too impersonal. The opportunity? A digital bank built for their needs—simple, secure and flexible.

To better serve these customers, AMP needed a mobile-first experience—effortless switching between personal and business accounts, fee-free transactions, smart savings and budgeting tools and seamless integration with other platforms for smoother financial management.

Working with PwC and Engine, AMP launched the new bank within 12 months—an almost unheard-of delivery window in the complex and regulatory-heavy banking industry. “In Engine by Starling, we have chosen a partner with a track record of success and will leverage their innovative technology platform, their highly successful go-to-market expertise and ways of working,” says Sean O'Malley, CEO, AMP Bank. “By partnering with one of the most innovative and fastest growing digital banks we will be able to better serve Australia’s growing number of small businesses, and individuals, with their banking needs.”

Engine now operates on four continents. They partner with PwC to help roll out the Engine platform worldwide, typically completing each client project in 12 months—enabling speed to market and execution ability is a hallmark of the partnership. Engine’s aim is to eventually be bigger than Starling Bank and become the digital powerhouse behind numerous banks around the world.

“Most often digital transformations fail because there is a culture in most organisations that says change is a risk. This is because people aren’t used to changing, whether that's from a technology or cultural perspective. Focus instead on optimising your organisation to deliver change, not just design and build, but right through to regularly delivering to production,” says Everington.

“This is really the latest in a series of business model reinvention stories here.” Adds Davies about Starling. “These guys are serial inventors. If you go back to the original retail bank, that was a reinvention of banking. If you look at what they’re doing today, they’re reinventing digital banking software.”

Engine by Starling proves that reinventing business models can unlock long-term value and growth. This success story highlights how digital transformation in banking and strong partnerships can drive progress.

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