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Banking on It

How I Disrupted an Industry

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Banking on It

By: Anne Boden
Narrated by: Janine Cooper-Marshall
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'I surprised myself the first time I fully articulated the words "I'm starting a bank"'

BANKING ON IT is the first-hand account of one woman's quest to rebuild Britain's broken banking system.

After a lengthy career at the top of some of Britain's leading banks Anne Boden had become disillusioned with the status quo - the financial crash had broken trust in the whole sector but there seemed to be little appetite to make the most of emerging technologies to revolutionise customer experience. Increasingly frustrated with the inertia within the industry she decided to shake things up herself by doing something totally radical - setting up her own bank.

In this awe-inspiring story Anne reveals how she broke through bureaucracy, tackled prejudice and successfully countered widespread suspicion to realise her vision for the future of consumer banking. She fulfilled that dream by founding Starling, the winner of Best British Bank at the British Bank Awards in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and in doing so has triggered a new movement that is revolutionising the entire banking industry.

©2020 Anne Boden (P)2020 Penguin Audio Banks & Banking Business Business Development & Entrepreneurship Law Professionals & Academics Small Business Banking Technology Career Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

Welsh, 5ft, female and fiftysomething: when Anne Boden decided to launch a new "challenger" bank she seemed like neither the typical staid financier nor the archetypal fintech founder. Her creation was the successful startup Starling, but as this tell-all book outlines it was not an easy birth. (Rosamund Urwin)
If there was ever a business book suitable for TV adaptation, this is it. (Claer Barrett)
Banking On It is the story of how Boden's dogged determination to change the way banks do things...it is a fascinating insight into how one woman's vision shaped the way fintech looks today. (Aisling Finn)
All stars
Most relevant
What a masterstroke of Anne Boden to get Janine Cooper Marshall to be the narrator voice in telling her tale of how Starling Bank came into being. The rhythmic inflection with strong and weak stress on alternating syllables of the “classic” Welsh accent places the listener deep within the story from the first moments of the taxi driver and that journey in Dublin. Instead of a strident story of doing battle with institutions and cartels "Banking on it" is a tale of hope learnt from experience, of envisaging things that never were and saying "Why Not?" rather than seeing things as they are and saying "Why?"

Anne was open to new ways of working, new technologies, new opportunities. But unlike many of her rivals in the FinTech space she remained an ethical banker of thirty years standing - someone who knows that the core elements of banking must be build upon trust between the banker and the customer.

Her timing to open a bank without physical branches could not have been better. Digital payment volumes are surging as Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide prompt consumers to do more shopping online. Sensible bankers know that customers do not want to pay for premium accounts with perks like metal cards; they want well designed and tested services which are secure, transparent and scalable. But how you build such a bank using the crooked timber of humanity is a story worth telling - and Anne, with Janine's narration. tells it well.

Captivating! - a transport of delight

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Although working in finance you hear some horror stories about fintechs, it was great to listen to Anne's articulation. Ive always viewed Starling as a fintech that does things 'properly' and this just emphasises my views. Anne has created a great product and more importantly ensured that it was created in the right way. Starling is certainly a fintech with 'trust' built in.

Brilliant story on the creation of Starling

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Anne’s journey and vision to create Starling Bank is truly inspirational. Her determination to succeed against the odds, and to pick her self up after her team let her down, is a lesson for every aspirant entrepreneur out there. A great example of what is possible if you put your mind to it.

Inspirational story of one woman’s journey to build a better bank.

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This is a really well-written, accessible insight into not just fintech and challenger banks but the startup process in general.
- fund-raising
- networking
- building an 100% app-based business and all the CX/UX and live testing aspects involved
- politics and skullduggery...!

The narrator takes a bit of getting used to - slightly patronising tone-of-voice which doesn't do Anne Boden any favours, but the writing is excellent and Anne's ghost writer should be congratulated.

Fascinating insight

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An amazing book written by an amazing Welsh entrepreneur

This book is really worth a read if you are an entrepreneur that wants to challenge your thinking disrupt your industry and overall get inspired

An amazing book

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