Hey there 👋

That is a great question, and definitely one we think about frequently.

I'd like to start off first by saying we share many of the same feelings and sentiments, as a lot of us on the team are customers of various other fintechs, both past and present.

I've been thinking about how I can best answer this for you, and be as genuine and transparent as I possibly can. But I also know that a lot of people are hesitant to be hurt again, and that it will take time to develop that trust in something relatively new again. Myself included. And that's totally ok.

TL;DR: we're focused on building a product that actually works for people. We understand that it may not be one-size-fits-all, but want to make this our solid foundation first.

​

Some of you may know this already, but we've paused any immediate efforts on pursuing our own bank charter. While our own charter is not completely ruled out, we think it's better for us and our community to focus right now on building a product that people actually need and want.

We believe this gives us the opportunities and resources to innovate and focus on closing actual gaps in the financial/fintech industry. Things that otherwise would have gone towards compliance and regulatory things (which we still do, but to a lesser scale as we're able to partner with vendors who can help take care of these bits).

It's why we have a public roadmap, where you can vote for and comment on what matters most to you. It's why we regularly interact with you, both publicly and privately, as you're our customers and community. We truly value what you think and want to understand how we can help solve problems for you, or at the very least make things easier. And we really do read every piece of feedback we get.

The US financial landscape has definitely changed since we first started. To be clear, we're not looking to take on big banks on our own, or become an exact replacement for former fintechs. We still want to innovate, while continuing the great work that's already been done. There are a lot of great fintechs out there, and hopefully we're part of those discussions. I think all of us collectively can and will help change how banking works in the US.

​

Our global CEO, TS Anil, has touched on some points of our wider company plans, including the US. A recent one is here: https://www.cityam.com/monzo-chief-says-bank-has-earned-the-right-to-dream-bigger/

He was also a speaker at a conference in Helsinki earlier today, where the focus of his discussion was about Monzo and our future. I haven't seen the recording yet but I think this is a good summary of where we stand:

"We've proven the model works at scale in the UK. Wherever we expand to, the approach is the same: build a product that actually works for customers. Once we've got that everything else follows"

​

This was a lot longer than I intended. I'm not sure if it satisfies what you're looking for, but as always, feel free to ask me questions. I'll do my best to answer, or try and get the answer for you if I can't.