“I keep saying it, but it really is the people,” says Fleet Mortgages chief executive Bob Young.

This answer to the question of why Starling Bank and the aforementioned lender are such a good match is delivered, — as with so much these days — through Zoom, but the sincerity and enthusiasm of the response are clear even though these are less-than-ideal circumstances.

Digital-only Starling Bank bought Fleet Mortgages for £50m in cash plus a share deal back in July this year.

To widen and diversify our portfolio further, the first place to start is BTL

Starling has grown quickly, gaining 2.5 million customers since its founding in 2014, with £7bn in deposits. Of these customers, more than 250,000 are small businesses, says chief executive Anne Boden. Come October, all of Fleet’s funding will derive from Starling.

“We open lots of accounts and they have deposits,” says Boden, “the cost of which is next to zero rather than the 0.5% to 1% it costs other banks.”

She continues: “We can use these cheap deposits to fund innovative business that is highly customer focused. And that’s why we acquired Fleet.”

There are self-employed people, there are people who just don’t fit the high street. And we think there’s an opportunity there

As every reader surely knows, Fleet is a buy-to-let (BTL) only lender.

“BTL gives us the returns and the risk profile,” Boden says when asked why Starling bought a lender focused on this market segment.

“We started off in customer lending and overdrafts, and last year we moved into small and medium-sized enterprise lending, and we have done over £2bn of this. To widen and diversify our portfolio further, the first place to start is BTL.”

But change is in the air. When asked what the market can expect from Fleet post acquisition, Young says the ambition from the start was to begin in BTL, “and move into the residential sector at some point”.

He continues: “I’m thinking of how many times the Financial Conduct Authority sees an application for a lender that states, ‘We’ll serve the underserved’, and it wonders where this market is.

“But undoubtedly there are self-employed people, there are people who just don’t fit the high street. And we think there’s an opportunity there.

“Now, our focus is BTL. But over the coming months there will be conversations about what else we can do.”

We can use these cheap deposits to fund innovative business that is highly customer focused. That’s why we acquired Fleet

As for new products and other improvements, he simply says, “Watch this space” — but he seems enthusiastic about the freedom in pricing the Starling balance sheet will offer.

Returning to the subject of ambition, Young says he has never been short of people to talk to when it comes to his business.

“When we started,” he says, “we could have gone to bed with private equity, but I just don’t want to work for a 30-year-old with a laptop in New York. With private equity… it’s a trade. And Fleet is not a trade for me. We created it for a reason.”

And so the conversation turns again from cold business to the warmer subject of people. It’s a running theme.

Boden explains that both businesses have a common view of the world — a sharing of principles that stem from each starting their respective firm because they felt that, ‘Things could be done better.’

Now, our focus is BTL. But over the coming months there will be conversations about what else we can do

There is much talk of how both companies see an entrepreneurial spirit in each other and want to provide their staff with a platform from which to prosper; and there is agreement on how values drive working practices rather than the other way around.

“The culture and the values behind Starling and Fleet are very, very similar,” Boden summarises.

This is not the only acquisition to occur in the mortgage sector this summer. In mid-July Athene announced its intention to buy Foundation Home Loans and, on the same day, New York-based lender Better bought digital mortgage broker Trussle.

“The US is awash with money that needs to be put to work,” says Young when asked if this is a signal of something unusual in the UK market.

“But what we are seeing is cyclical,” he adds, listing various deals from US banks in the late 1980s, late 1990s and early 2000s.

With private equity… it’s a trade. And Fleet is not a trade for me. We created it for a reason

“We see this from time to time. Someone once described American bankers as kids running into a sweet shop, eating as much as they can, running outside, throwing up in the street and then looking around for the next sweet shop.

“What we’re seeing with American trades recently is just a continuation of that. They’re excited about the market again. We were approached by a few of these firms while we were speaking to Starling. And, as I said, they’re just trades — not necessarily long-term ambitions.

“Their idea is to link up with a deposit taker and float on the market. One guy was very blunt, saying, ‘This is a five- to six-year trade, Bob, then we’re out.’ I said, ‘That’s very kind of you.’”

There doesn’t appear to be anything short term about this deal. Indeed, one has the feeling that another piece of a master plan has clicked into place.

“We are on schedule,” Boden replies when asked if the timeline for Starling’s initial public offering has been affected by this acquisition.

“Whether it’s the end of next year or the following year, this brings nothing forward.”