What Starling Bank has shown on monitored routes
A win requires a completed, non-promotional quote at the same sending amount. Converter rates and modelled bank prices remain useful evidence, though neither is allowed to wear the winner's badge.
Where Starling Bank makes sense
- Best for
- Existing Starling customers who want a transparent bank payment without opening a separate transfer account.
- Less suitable for
- Cash pickup, unsupported currencies and customers who need weekend wholesale-rate conversion.
- Where the rate cost sits
- A current exchange rate with a separate 0.4% conversion fee. Weekend euro-account conversions use a fixed weekend rate.
- What the fee tells you
- 0.4% conversion plus a delivery fee. Swift costs £5.50; lower-cost local delivery starts from 30p where available.
- Delivery
- Local network or Swift, depending on currency. International payment processing has weekday windows.
- Access
- Inside a Starling current account, with separate euro-account features for eligible customers.
How Starling Bank's quote can flatter or disappoint
Starling is the most useful high-street-style comparison because it states the conversion charge plainly. On £1,000 the 0.4% conversion fee is £4, before the chosen delivery charge. That lets a customer compare it with Wise or Atlantic Money without reverse-engineering the bank rate.
The low-cost local option can be only 30p for common routes, while Swift is £5.50. Those are not interchangeable delivery rails. Swift may carry payment references or reach a currency the local option does not, but recipient-bank fees remain possible.
For an existing Starling customer the small difference from the cheapest specialist may be worth the convenience. For a customer opening an account solely for one payment, the specialist quote remains the cleaner baseline.
Where it works well
- Bank integration with unusually clear pricing
- Low-cost local payment option
- Published calculator and fee table
Where the value thins out
- Requires a Starling account
- Limited country list compared with specialists
- Recipient-bank fees can still reduce a Swift payment
The latest Starling Bank figures we can reproduce
Each row is the newest record for that route. The receipt shows the provider screen or calculation behind it, including the time we saw it.
| Route | Sent | Visible fee | Amount delivered | Against the best completed quote | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom → Hong Kongbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | HK$2,041.01Rate 10.53699 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:12 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Singaporebank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | SGD 333.90Rate 1.7238 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:12 UTC |
| United Kingdom → South Africabank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | ZAR 4,297.18Rate 22.1847 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:12 UTC |
| United Kingdom → New Zealandbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | NZ$443.42Rate 2.28919 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:11 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Australiabank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | A$370.43Rate 1.91239 | -A$6.40 | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:11 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Canadabank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | CA$364.99Rate 1.8843 | -CA$6.34 | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:11 UTC |
| United Kingdom → United Statesbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | US$267.34Rate 1.34409 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:11 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Switzerlandbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £6.30 | CHF 210.30Rate 1.0857 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:11 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Polandbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | PLN 1,001.36Rate 5.0345 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Francebank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Germanybank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Irelandbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Italybank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Netherlandsbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Portugalbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
| United Kingdom → Spainbank transfer · bank deposit | £200.00 | £1.10 | €232.25Rate 1.16767 | Best completed result | Open receipt31 Jul 2026, 08:10 UTC |
What to price beside Starling Bank
Wise remains the cleanest yardstick for an ordinary bank transfer. It uses the mid-market rate and places its charge in view, so there is less detective work between the advertised rate and the amount delivered.
Read the Wise rate review →Revolut can be very good value for an existing customer exchanging within the plan allowance. Go beyond that allowance, or exchange at the weekend, and the apparently simple price develops rather more moving parts.
Read the Revolut rate review →NatWest Business keeps permissions and payment records inside Bankline, which has genuine value. Its £15 payment fee swallows 7.5% of a £200 transfer before the exchange-rate margin gets involved.
Read the NatWest Business rate review →Starling Bank's own pricing documents
These pages describe the published terms. The corridor table is gathered separately, so a provider's explanation never substitutes for the quote it gives us.
- International transfer calculatorStarling Bank
- International payment fee tableStarling Bank