Finance

Goldman-backed Starling Bank profit drops amid Covid loan issue

Published

2 days ago

May 28, 2025

Business Finance News

The Starling Bank app displayed on a person’s phone.

Adrian Dennis | AFP via Getty Images

LONDON — British online lender Starling Bank on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in annual profit, citing an issue with Covid-era business loan fraud and a regulatory fine over financial crime failings.

Starling, which offers fee-free current accounts and lending services via a mobile app, posted profit before tax for the year ending March 31, 2025 of £223.4 million ($301.9 million), down nearly 26% year-over-year.

Revenue at the bank totalled £714 million, up about 5% from £682 million a year ago. However, that marked a slowdown from the more than 50% revenue growth Starling saw in its 2024 fiscal year.

Profits for the year were impacted by a £29 million fine by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority over failings related to Starling’s financial crime prevention systems.

Starling also flagged an issue with the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) that was designed to provide firms with access to cash during the coronavirus pandemic.

Starling was one of several banks that were approved to lend cash to firms during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. The scheme provided a 100% guarantee to lenders, making the government responsible for covering the full outstanding loan amount if a borrower defaulted.

However, Starling said it has since “identified a group of BBLS loans which potentially did not comply with a guarantee requirement” due to weaknesses in its historic fraud checks. After flagging this to the state-owned British Business Bank, the firm subsequently “volunteered to remove the government guarantee on those loans.”

“As a result, we have taken a £28.2m provision in this year’s accounts,” the bank said, referring to both the FCA fine and BBLS issue.

However, Starling said it held an Expected Credit Loss provision of £800,000 as of March 31 in relation to certain BBLS loans “where the guarantee provided under the BBLS guarantee agreement may no longer be available to the Company.”

“This is a legacy issue which we dealt with transparently and in full cooperation with the British Business Bank,” Declan Ferguson, Starling’s chief financial officer, said on a media call Wednesday.

Starling has operated as a licensed bank in the U.K. since 2018. It counts the likes of Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and the Qatar Investment Authority as shareholders.

The firm, which was last privately valued in 2022 at £2.5 billion, faces hefty competition from both incumbent banks and rival fintechs like Monzo and Revolut.

Finance

U.S.-China talks ‘stalled’ and need Trump and Xi to weigh in, Bessent says

Published

8 hours ago

May 29, 2025

Business Finance News

The U.S. and Chinese flags are seen on the day of a bilateral meeting between the U.S. and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 10, 2025.

Keystone/eda/martial Trezzini | Via Reuters

BEIJING — U.S.-China trade talks “are a bit stalled,” requiring the two countries’ leaders to speak directly, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in an interview Thursday local time.

“I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks,” he said, adding that there may be a call between the two countries’ leaders “at some point.”

After a rapid escalation in trade tensions last month, Bessent helped the world’s two largest economies reach a breakthrough agreement in Switzerland on May 12. The countries agreed to roll back recent tariff increases of more than 100% for 90 days, or until mid-August. Diplomatic officials from both sides had a call late last week.

Still, the U.S. has pushed ahead with tech restrictions on Beijing, drawing its ire, while China has yet to significantly ease restrictions on rare earths, contrary to Washington’s expectations.

“I think that given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, that this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,” Bessent said. “They have a very good relationship and I am confident that the Chinese will come to the table when President [Donald] Trump makes his [preferences] known.”

Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping last spoke in January, just before the U.S. president was sworn in for his second term. While Trump has in recent weeks said he would like to speak with Xi, analysts expect China to agree to that only if there’s certainty there will be no surprises from the U.S. during the call.

China has maintained communication with the U.S. since the agreement in Switzerland, Chinese Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yongqian told reporters at a regular briefing Thursday.

But regarding chip export controls, she said that “China again urges the U.S. to immediately correct its wrong practices … and together safeguard the consensus reached at high-level talks in Geneva.”

That’s according to a CNBC translation of her Mandarin-language remarks.

When asked whether China would suspend rare earths’ export controls announced in early April, He did not respond directly. Restrictions on items that could be used for both military and civilian use reflect international practice, as well as China’s position of “upholding world peace and regional stability,” she said.

This week, the Trump administration also announced it would start revoking visas for Chinese students.

“The U.S. decision to revoke Chinese student visas is fully unjustified,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday, according to an official English transcript. “It uses ideology and national security as pretext.”