UK app-only bank Starling is to use an API from TransferWise to provide customers with cheap foreign currency transfers to bank accounts in 35 currencies.
Primed for launch later this month, Starling is working towards delivery of a 'Marketplace' model, which will see the bank provide access to a range of third party financial products such as mortgages and loans from innovative fintech startups, all from within the app.
The deal with TransferWise promises FX transfers to third party bank accounts at Reuters' benchmark exchange rates, for an unspecified "small upfront fee".
For TransferWise, the agreement is its first with a UK bank, following similar deals with Estonia's LVH Bank and Germany's N26.
Scott Miller, head of partnerships at TransferWise, says: “The partnership is another example of how the TransferWise API can be used to integrate TransferWise into any UK or EU bank and business payment system. Starling Bank accesses the same API that TransferWise’s business customers use to make thousands of monthly international and domestic payments.”