Starling Bank, the UK challenger bank, has announced an investment of over $50 million to expand its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, Engine, across the North American market. This initiative includes establishing a new regional headquarters in New York and appointing Jaideep Bhagat as President of North America to lead the effort.

Starling’s planned investment in its North American presence will facilitate the establishment of a regional headquarters in New York. This new office will complement an existing outpost in Toronto, Canada, which was set up in August. Starling has confirmed that the New York headquarters will be staffed by a mix of local hires and secondees from the firm’s UK-based team of product specialists, though an exact launch date has not been disclosed.

Jaideep Bhagat joins Engine from Personetics Technologies, where he served as President of Global Banking. In that role, he focused on building out the fintech’s presence across North America through awareness building, client acquisition, product tailoring, and business impact delivery. Prior to his seven-year tenure at Personetics, Bhagat was a partner at McKinsey and Company and held several senior digital operating roles at US Bank, Citizens Bank, and Wells Fargo.

Engine has already achieved international commercial success as Starling has pursued a growth strategy for its BaaS platform since at least 2023. This strategy has included the launch of regional offices in Dubai and Sydney earlier in September. Recent client adoption includes AMP in Australia, which leveraged Engine to launch its new digital banking proposition, AMP Bank, in February this year.