The UK-based neobank’s founder and CEO Anne Boden outlined plans to offer banking as a service globally in 2022, giving Starling a potential opening into embedded finance.

Popular UK neobanks, Starling Bank and Monzo Bank, were among the top three largest net beneficiaries of the country’s Current Account Switching Service (CASS). In the previous four quarters, Starling had topped the list.

Starling. S&P Global. Tandem. TechCrunch. The Times. TSB. Which? YouGov.

Starling Bank. TransUnion. Travel Weekly. UK Finance. United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Which? World Bank. Yahoo Finance UK.

More on this: Monzo scored 83%, as did Triodos Bank, while Starling got the top spot at 85%. The 20-bank list for the report—banks with at least 50 survey respondents—includes both challengers and high-street incumbents. All three banking players scored five out of five stars in the customer service, communications, and transparency of charges categories.

Its fellow UK challengers Starling and Revolut offer similar products, but do so through partnerships with CreditLadder, which tracks people’s rental repayments and reports them to credit agencies. Neobanks that in-source credit building can build foundations for lending income and keep customers within their ecosystems.

Canada-based Neo Financial will add mortgages this year, and UK-based Starling added lending. Neobanks are flush with customers and new products. But more customers and more offerings add complexity to customer relationships. Neobanks must recognize when to shift their strategy from customer acquisition to investing in customer service to satisfy these more profitable relationships. What can they do?

The UK also has several big neobanks for Chase to match its digital innovation against, including Revolut, which strives to be a super app for consumers, and Starling, which has thrived with getting people to use its current accounts.

UK-based Starling capped off a £322 million ($412.9 million) round in April 2021, with a pre-money valuation of £1.1 billion ($1.41 billion). France-based Lydia became a unicorn by crossing the $1 billion valuation mark due to a $100 million raise this week. Netherlands-based bunq raised €193 million ($220.1 million) last week through its first-ever outside funding round.

Starling’s maiden tie-up takes it deeper into lending: The challenger’s £50 million ($64.1 million) deal for specialty lender Fleet Mortgages lets Starling put its deposits to work and takes it into a space that’s not crowded with UK neobanks.

Starling, which revealed a 2030 goal for its one-third emissions cut, and with a net-zero year to be determined. U.S. Bank, which announced a 2025 goal for sourcing 100% renewable energy and a 2050 net-zero emissions date.

In September, Starling said it would expand its BaaS business to continental Europe starting with France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Monese announced earlier this month that it’s jumping into BaaS, with customization choices for clients in various countries. Australian neobank Volt has shifted focus to BaaS amid upheaval in the country’s consumer neobanking market.

Data drilldown: Mammoth funding rounds drove the figures, including those of Revolut, Monzo, Copper, Checkout.com, and Starling. Late-stage and early-stage rounds got the most funding, pulling in $7 billion and $27 billion, respectively. Growth-stage level followed with $1.6 billion. By number of deals, the seed stage saw a decrease in funding (securing less than $1 million).

The neobank will enhance its competitive advantage versus prominent UK challengers: it plays in the less-crowded mortgage space, unlike Revolut, Starling, and Monzo. If scaling in mortgages proves successful, it would combine its first-mover advantage with a sophisticated way of originating mortgages to build a moat.

Starling first hitting monthly profitability in October 2020 and with an expectation of turning an annual profit for its current fiscal year. OakNorth saw an 18% annual profit jump for 2020 compared to 2019.

Lloyds and Starling top Q4 2020 UK account switching list: The pair took first and second place, respectively, in net account switches—and their different customer acquisition approaches show how to succeed as account switching rebounds from the pandemic.

Making personalized plays to customers gives the incumbent a way to stay competitive against UK neobanks—like Revolut, Starling, and Monzo—because it’s going beyond simply making digital products available; instead, it’s centering them around customers' needs.