Key facts
- Starling Bank has appointed Colin Bell as its new chair.
- Bell previously served as a non-executive director at Starling since November 2025.
- The appointment coincides with the departure of incumbent chair David Sproul.
- Other board members, including Marcus Traill and Richard Watts, have also exited.
- Starling described the board changes as "in ordinary course of business."
Starling Bank has appointed Colin Bell, a veteran banker and former top executive at HSBC, as its new chair. Bell, who has been a non-executive director at Starling since November 2025, will take over from incumbent David Sproul later this year.
This leadership change is part of a broader boardroom shake-up at the digital challenger bank as it progresses towards its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO). The appointment follows the recent departures of Marcus Traill, who is associated with the bank's largest shareholder, billionaire Harald McPike, and Richard Watts, a fund manager at investor Chrysalis.
Tracy Clarke, who led the search for a new chair, is also expected to leave the board. Starling has stated that these board changes are "in ordinary course of business" and that the board has been strengthened with new appointments, including Dan Olley, former chief of Hargreaves Lansdown.
Billionaire Harald McPike, who controls about a third of Starling's shares and provided crucial investment in 2016, had previously been at odds with the board regarding the destination of the IPO. While sources close to McPike suggested he believed Starling was leaning towards a US listing, he had previously opposed a London float. However, Starling's leadership has adopted a more non-committal stance on the listing venue and timeline. Chief executive Raman Bhatia has indicated that an IPO is not expected in the short term, and finance boss Declan Ferguson has stated that the decision on where to list remains "in flux."
