Starling Bank has introduced an AI assistant for its business banking customers, built into the existing app at no extra cost; named Starling Assistant, the feature follows a personal-account assistant launched earlier in the year and runs on Google Gemini within Starling's own cloud environment, with customer data not used to train models.

Starling Bank is a London-based digital lender offering personal and business current accounts, lending and banking-as-a-service software, and reported revenue of £887.4 million (€1.05 billion) and net income of £156 million (€184.4 million) for its most recent financial year.

One of the first functions lets users request tax ring-fencing, such as setting aside a portion of the previous month's earnings for VAT, with the assistant calculating the amount from account history and transferring it into a separate in-app Space. A second feature targets invoice fraud, letting business users query supplier invoices for warning signs such as changed payment details.

The structural driver behind the invoice fraud tool is the scale of the problem facing small businesses; UK Finance has put the cost to UK businesses at more than £41 million (approximately €48.4 million) in 2025.

The assistant also supports Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, asking sole traders and landlords about income levels and flagging when the rules are likely to apply; customers must opt in before using any of the features.

"We know that managing finances can be a major drain on time for small businesses. Starling Assistant changes this by automating routine tasks and taking the guesswork out of money management," said Harriet Rees, Group Chief Information Officer at Starling.

Starling plans to add receipt analysis and invoice creation tools later this year, alongside deeper integration with its accounting software, a rollout that reflects a wider push by banks to embed generative AI into business banking as competition for small-company customers intensifies.

For the sector, the launch underscores growing pressure on banking providers to pair automation with visible fraud protection.
 

Source: CFOtech UK / eMarketer / Starling Bank