Starling Launches UK’s First Agentic AI Banking Assistant

Starling Bank has launched the UK’s first “agentic”  AI financial assistant, as the bank continues to explore how AI can be embedded into everyday customer journeys.

The new in-app tool, known as Starling Assistant, introduces a conversational interface that allows personal current account holders to manage their finances using voice or natural language prompts.

Customers can ask the assistant to carry out tasks such as setting savings goals, organizing bill payments, and providing insights into spending patterns.

The assistant builds on a series of AI tools introduced by the bank over the past year, including Spending Intelligence and Scam Intelligence, and represents the culmination of eight years of AI development at Starling.

These features analyze transaction data to answer customer queries about spending habits and help identify potential fraud risks.

The system is built using Gemini models from Google and runs on its cloud platform. Customers must opt in to use the assistant, and the bank said all data remains within its cloud environment and is not used to train external AI models.

The assistant is being rolled out to personal current account holders from today, with support for business and joint accounts expected to follow.

Starling said the tool is intended to provide more personalized financial insights and practical support within its mobile banking app, as part of its ongoing development of AI-driven features.

Harriet Rees, group chief information officer at Starling, said:  “It’s time to embrace a new era of banking, one that’s powered by agentic AI. At Starling, we want to encourage our customers to trust that AI can help them with money management and we’re excited to be pioneering the use of this cutting-edge technology to help people be good with money.”