UK challenger Starling Bank has appointed Jaideep Bhagat to execute an international expansion of its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform Engine as president of North America. With Bhagat at the helm, Starling has also announced plans to “invest upwards of $50 million into our North American footprint”, according to a statement on its latest hire.
This planned investment will lead to a regional headquarters being established in New York, complemented by an existing outpost in Toronto, Canada, which was set up in August. The regional headquarters will be “staffed by a mix of local hires and secondees from the firm’s UK-based team of product specialists”, Starling confirms, although an exact date of launch has not been disclosed.
Bhagat joins Engine from Personetics Technologies, where he served as president of global banking with specific attention to building out the fintech’s presence across North America. Bhagat’s LinkedIn profile states that this expansion of Personetics was enabled through “awareness building, client acquisition, product tailoring, and business impact delivery”.
Prior to his seven-year tenure at Personetics, Bhagat served as a partner at McKinsey and Company, and has also held several senior digital operating roles at US Bank, Citizens Bank, and Wells Fargo.
Engine has already enjoyed some level of commercial success across international markets. Starling has been pursuing a growth strategy for its BaaS platform since at least 2023, culminating in the launch of regional offices in Dubai and Sydney earlier this month. Recent client adoption includes AMP in Australia, which leveraged Engine to launch its new digital banking proposition, AMP Bank, in February this year.
Source: https://www.fintechfutures.com/
