Starling, the leading digital bank, has added three new integrations to its Marketplace: Slack, the workplace messaging platform, Bionic, the energy switching service, and Equipsme, a health insurance provider.
The Starling Marketplace, which is already used by one in three business customers, offers 26 complementary services that customers can link to their banking app. These let customers synchronise their banking with the rest of their business operations more easily, reducing company admin time.
The new additions will be available to Starling鈥檚 177,000 SME customers from today.
Anne Boden, founder and CEO of Starling Bank, said: 鈥淭hese new Marketplace integrations are bringing added value to our business customers, helping them to save money on utilities, incentivise their staff with health insurance and sync their Starling app with Slack so their teams can enjoy real-time spending notifications wherever they鈥檙e working.鈥�
Slack: Connecting teams
Slack, the channel-based messaging platform, will give Starling鈥檚 business customers better visibility of their finances by providing owners and employees with real-time transaction alerts every time they are paid by a customer or pay a bill. The integration will also allow finance or account management teams without direct access to the Starling business account to see transaction details.
Used by more than 100,000 businesses around the world, Slack has seen a surge in users during the coronavirus lockdown and the move to remote working.
Stuart Templeton, head of Slack UK said: 鈥淚n March alone, Slack users nearly tripled the rate at which they integrate their tools in Slack, signalling that more people were getting work done with apps. Slack provides a central location where users can streamline all their tools in a place where they’re already engaged throughout the day. We鈥檙e thrilled to see Starling Bank bring this offering to their business customers.鈥�
Bionic: Saving customers money
Powering comparison sites such as MoneySuperMarket and USwitch,聽Bionic聽helps customers save on average 拢725 a year and switch their bills within two hours. Bionic鈥檚 24/7 team of tech-enabled experts facilitate safe, affordable and speedy switching.
This is the first time that Starling has provided business customers with access to the business utility market to give SMEs a platform to arrange their next energy contract from their banking app.
Paul Galligan, CEO of Bionic said:聽鈥淕iven our respective focus on ensuring customers鈥� needs are placed first, I have no doubt that the Starling Bank and Bionic integration will be beneficial.鈥�
