This is the next step in the Bank’s plan to use Open Banking regulations to give financial control back to its customers, and follows on from existing partnerships with companies such as Moneybox, Flux, Yolt and Yoyo Wallet. Building upon being the first licenced bank with a PSD2-ready API, these new permissions enable Starling to deliver the next stage of its Marketplace proposition - access to providers of financial services and products from within the Starling mobile app.

This announcement is the latest in a number of firsts for the bank, including a number of firsts for digital only banks, including real-time Faster Payments, the retail current account, and digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Fitbit Pay to consumers.

The announcement provides a glimpse of what the upcoming Open Banking framework will mean for consumer banking and demonstrates the real-life, tangible benefits that open and permissioned sharing of data can bring.

Starling Bank CEO, Anne Boden, said: “This is a significant milestone in Starling's strategy to develop a market leading current account and debit card with a Marketplace “app store” that enables our customers to view and select other financial services solutions provided by selected third parties.

“I founded Starling to empower consumers to take control of their financial life, and this licence will allow us to provide customers with easy access to products offered by other financial services companies from within the Starling app. This gives customers transparency and choice - something which the big banks have kept from them for too long - and having an open API enables us to accommodate a huge diversity of customer requirements through a selection of financial services providers.

“Following today's regulatory approval we will soon be introducing new financial service providers to our customers.”