Guides · Updated 4 November 2026 · 5 min read
Is Starling Bank safe? FSCS protection, the FCA fine and Starling's anti-scam tools
Starling is a UK bank with FSCS protection up to £120,000. What is covered, what the FCA's £29 million fine was about and how Starling helps you avoid scams.
In short: Starling Bank is a fully authorised UK bank, so eligible money in your Starling accounts is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £120,000 per person. Separately, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Starling almost £29 million in October 2024 for weak financial crime controls, which does not affect deposit protection.
Who holds your money
Your account is held by Starling Bank Limited (trading as Starling), a company registered in England and Wales under number 09092149. Its registered office is in the London Fruit and Wool Exchange, 1 Duval Square, London E1 6PW. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the FCA and the PRA, with registration number 730166.
Because Starling is a bank and not an e-money institution, the money you hold with it counts as a deposit. That is what brings it under the UK's deposit guarantee scheme, the FSCS.
How FSCS protection works at Starling
The Bank of England confirmed that the FSCS limit rose from £85,000 (set in 2017) to £120,000 on 1 December 2025. Starling's FSCS information sheet sets out how this applies to its customers:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Limit | £120,000 per depositor per bank |
| Joint account | Each eligible holder is covered up to £120,000, so two holders get up to £240,000 |
| Business account | Treated as a single depositor: £120,000 |
| Temporary high balances | Can be covered above £120,000 for six months after certain life events |
| Payout time | The FSCS "will typically return deposits within seven business days" |
Points worth knowing:
- All your eligible deposits at Starling are added together. Starling's own example: £80,000 in a savings account plus £50,000 in a current account makes £130,000; the FSCS would pay £120,000 and you could lose £10,000.
- Your current account and your Easy Saver are held by the same bank, so they share one £120,000 limit.
- Temporary high balances cover events such as buying or selling your main home, death, marriage, divorce, redundancy and some compensation payments. The Bank of England says this limit rose from £1 million to £1.4 million on 1 December 2025.
- Some depositors are excluded, for example financial institutions and most public authorities, and deposits linked to a money laundering conviction.
Our guide Is my money safe in a neo bank? explains how protection differs between banks and e-money providers.
The FCA fine: what happened
On 2 October 2024 the FCA fined Starling £28,959,426. According to the FCA's announcement, there were two main problems:
| Issue | What the FCA found |
|---|---|
| High-risk customers | After a 2021 FCA review, Starling agreed not to open new accounts for high-risk customers until its controls improved. Between September 2021 and November 2023 it still opened over 54,000 accounts for 49,000 high-risk customers |
| Sanctions screening | Since 2017, Starling's automated system had screened customers against only a fraction of the full list of sanctioned persons. Starling became aware of this in January 2023 |
The FCA said Starling's controls had not kept pace with its growth, from about 43,000 customers in 2017 to 3.6 million in 2023. Therese Chambers, the FCA's joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, called the sanctions screening "shockingly lax". Starling agreed to resolve the case and received a 30% discount; without it, the fine would have been £40,959,426.
According to the FCA, Starling has set up programmes to fix these breaches and strengthen its wider financial crime controls, has reported multiple potential sanctions breaches to the relevant authorities, and remains under FCA supervision.
What this means for you
The fine concerned how Starling checked customers and screened payments. It does not change FSCS protection: eligible deposits are still covered up to £120,000. In practice, banks that are tightening financial crime controls may ask where money came from or pause an account while they review it. Keep invoices, payslips or sale documents for larger payments, and read our guide on what to do if a neo bank freezes or closes your account.
Monzo was fined for similar failings in 2025; our guide Is Monzo safe? covers that case.
How Starling protects you from fraud
Starling's fraud and security pages list these tools:
- Call status: launched on 31 October 2024, this banner on the app's home screen and payment screen shows whether Starling is really calling you right now. If it says Starling is not calling you, hang up and call 159.
- Video ID when you open an account, biometric login and a passcode to lock the app.
- Real-time notifications for payments, Confirmation of Payee for new payees and 3D Secure for online shopping.
- Card controls in the app: lock and unlock your card instantly, and switch off online payments, contactless, chip and PIN, ATM withdrawals or mobile wallet payments.
Starling says it will never ask you to make or approve payments to "keep your account safe", help with an investigation, share your PINs or passwords, or authorise a payment to a new "safe account". It also says it will not call or text you about fraud without messaging you in the app first. Anyone asking for these is a scammer.
If you are tricked into sending money
The FSCS pays out when a bank fails, not when you are scammed. Scams fall under separate rules: since 7 October 2024, UK payment providers must reimburse victims of authorised push payment (APP) scams on Faster Payments up to £85,000 per claim, under rules set by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). The Bank of England set the same limit for CHAPS. Report a scam to Starling in the app as soon as you notice it.
How to check for yourself
- Look up registration number 730166 on the FCA's Financial Services Register.
- Keep your eligible deposits at Starling below £120,000 if you want them fully covered, counting your current account and savings together.
- Use the call status banner before acting on any call that claims to be from Starling.
Summary
For everyday money, Starling offers the same FSCS protection as any UK bank. Its 2024 fine was about financial crime checks between 2017 and 2023, not about the safety of customers' deposits.
See Starling's full profile, read Starling Bank explained for fees and features, or compare UK providers in our comparison table for the UK.
Sources
- Starling Bank: Financial Services Compensation Scheme information sheet
- Starling Bank: FSCS information sheet 2026 (PDF)
- Starling Bank: Corporate information
- Bank of England: PRA confirms FSCS deposit limit to be increased to £120,000 from 1 December
- FCA: FCA fines Starling Bank £29m for failings in their financial crime systems and controls
- Mishcon de Reya: Starling Bank fined £29m for financial crime failings
- Starling Bank: Protecting you from fraud and scams
- Starling Bank: Starling launches in-app tool to combat bank impersonation
- Starling Bank: Card security controls
- PSR: PS24/7 APP scams reimbursement, confirming the maximum level
Prices and features checked on 2026-11-04.
This guide is general information, not financial advice. Fees, features and availability change, so check the provider's own website before you apply. Read how we compare providers and our affiliate disclosure.
Providers mentioned in this guide
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Starling BankUK travel & everyday - 5
MonzoUK everyday banking
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