THE digital bank Starling has increased its workforce in Southampton by almost 20 per cent this year.

The bank now employs 400 people at Town Quay after a recruitment drive earlier in the year.

Nationally, its headcount rose by 20 per cent to more than 2,000 staff, and it expects this to grow by another 10 per cent before 2022 is over.

Starling, which chose Southampton as the site of its first base outside London, announced in July that it had enjoyed its first full year of profitability.

It has also opened a new London office this year at Spitalfields. The office also houses Engine by Starling, the bank’s financial crime, customer service and card operations teams.

Starling’s founder and chief executive, Anne Boden, said: “We’re a British Bank full of brilliant talent and we’re opening our doors to more hires as we continue in our mission to change banking for good.

“Our new office is based in between the financial district of the city and London’s Silicon Roundabout - the perfect location for Starling, which stands apart from traditional banks and challenger banks and is firmly in a category of one.”

Earlier this year, Starling had six double-decker buses in Southampton wrapped in its recruitment ads.

It was offering 100 jobs, both in operational roles such as customer service, financial crime and complaints, and in tech roles such as software engineering and data analysis.

Starling is based around a mobile app and 24-hour customer support on the phone. It has more than three million customer accounts.

Ms Boden said in 2019: “Southampton was our first centre outside London. We’re right on Town Quay which is a great location.

“It’s a very unusual location, it’s not a business park. When we decided to look for our first location outside London, we wanted not to go to the typical locations. We wanted to go to a real city and Southampton was a wonderful, semi-industrial place that had a great university.”

Starling is aiming to overtake Barclays in the business banking market by 2026.