London-based Starling Bank has introduced a new feature that allows customers to use AI to better understand their spending habits.
The tool, called ‘Spending Intelligence’, enables users to ask questions such as “How much did I spend on groceries last week?” or “How much did I donate to charity last year?”, and receive immediate analysis.
This marks the first time a UK bank has integrated AI and natural language processing within its app to let customers interact directly with their financial data.
According to Starling Bank’s Chief Information Officer Harriet Rees,
“At Starling we believe that knowledge is power, and it’s the first step to taking active control of your money. Now, customers can use AI to feed their natural curiosity about their finances so that they can make informed decisions about their budgeting.”
Spending Intelligence builds on the bank’s existing Spending tab, which categorises transactions into over 50 customisable groups, such as ‘Bills’, ‘Transport’, ‘Groceries’, ‘Holidays’, and ‘Weddings’.
The AI tool appears at the top of this tab, where users can type or speak their questions.
The app also provides suggested prompts based on individual spending patterns.
Once a question is submitted, the app returns a graph and related analysis to give users a clearer overview of their spending behaviour over time.
Prompts might include holiday spending for frequent travellers, transport costs for commuters, or restaurant spending for regular diners.
Rees added,
“We’ve designed this feature so that people can engage with their finances in a way that feels natural to them. The more you talk or type, the more you’ll learn about your money management.”
The feature is powered by Google’s Gemini models via Google Cloud.
It interprets natural language queries before Starling’s internal systems analyse the user’s transactional data.
Customers must opt in to use the feature, and can opt out at any time.
All data remains within Starling’s secure Google Cloud environment and is not used to train AI models.
The new tool follows other AI-driven developments by Starling, including applications in cybersecurity, fraud detection, and customer support.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by Who is Danny via Freepik
