The Starling for Business account will initially be designed for entrepreneurs, sole traders and small business owners.

It aims to offer a fast, secure and flexible way of managing business finance from a smartphone.

Registration for interested customers is open ahead of an anticipated live date in early 2018.

Starling for Business will be free to set up and start using, and customers can benefit from features such as:

• same day set-up
• 24/7 customer service
• connectivity to the marketplace
• categorised transactions
• real-time Faster Payments
• international payments.

The account will initially open to a closed group of testers towards the end of this year.

During the testing period, these customers will be able to share and discuss the features they use most and any they want added.

“At the heart of Starling Bank is an understanding of our customers and their passions,” said Anne Boden, CEO and founder of Starling Bank (pictured above).

“For a large number of our customers, that passion is a side hustle or small business that they run alongside their nine to five.

“What's therefore become apparent is that a hugely underserved group of people exist who need more than a personal current account, but aren't quite a small business.

“This is what we are hoping to solve here by developing Starling for Business.

“Developing the tools and features that work for these entrepreneurially minded and driven customers has therefore become a key goal for us in the next 12 months.”