Starling Bank has appointed Raman Bhatia as its new group CEO, subject to regulatory approvals and effective early summer.
On joining, Bhatia will take over from John Mountain, who has been serving as the digital bank’s interim CEO since founder Anne Boden announced she was stepping back from the role last year.
With a career spanning more than 15 years, Bhatia currently serves as the CEO of OVO, the UK’s third-largest energy supplier. He had joined them in 2020 as chief operating officer (COO). Prior to that, he worked at HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management for over five years, most recently as head of digital bank, UK. He was also a member of its executive committee, which included responsibility for HSBC, First Direct and M&S Bank.
In a statement, Starling said Bhatia “brings a wealth of consumer tech and fintech expertise” to the digital bank, having worked in both scaled, regulated businesses and in entrepreneurial challengers.
“This, coupled with his experience at OVO of navigating one of Britain’s leading digitally driven disruptor brands through a period of significant change, makes him an ideal leader of Starling,” it added.
“We see significant opportunities for Starling under Raman’s leadership as the economy stabilises, as our truly differentiated offering for personal and small business customers wins market share in the UK, and as our Engine by Starling Software-as-a-Service business secures further international contracts,” said David Sproul, chair of Starling Bank.
“I want to thank John Mountain for his wise stewardship of Starling these past eight months and am delighted that we will continue to benefit from his expertise at the company.”
