Starling Bank on Preventing Addictive Gambling

Banks already play a part in dealing with corporate sustainability, especially when addressing financial inclusion. Starling Bank shows how this part can be further expanded, through fighting gambling addiction, for instance. They also show how flexible their solutions are.

Starling Bank’s tools help customers monitor, identify and categorise expenses. They can also be used to block some of specific expenses: the UK FinTech explains they can prevent purchases to do with gambling and betting activities, for instance.

The independent charity organisation Money and Mental Health has been inviting banks to consider this feature. The first institution to meet their request is Starling Bank. They, however, insist on their customers’ own responsibility since they introduce a feature for blocking these transactions, if they so wish. The payment card paired with the blocked account will no longer allow them to make payments at gambling establishments.

To enable these transactions again, customers may decide to make changes to their account’s security options, at which point they receive a gambling prevention message is displayed.

Comments – Corporate sustainability and social responsibility at stakes

According to a survey conducted by the UK Gambling Commission (February 2018), 45% of the respondents had been gambling in the previous four weeks. These figures have been increasing, especially as smartphones and tablets came into play, as well as 24/7 access to online gambling platforms. Even if barely 1% of those surveyed actually have a compulsive gambling habit, their situation needs a remedy and thousands of people are likely to be concerned.

Starling Bank relies on these observations to stress the relevance of their new card blocking module. They also further investigate into PFM, via including prevention measures, and making gambling-related payments less accessible.

Starling Bank is making a new commitment with quite a simple card blocking tool. However limited, these efforts can have a significant impact on their image.