Apple Card, beware. Monzo brings his "bank of the future" to the United States

The Monzo digital bank has stormed the UK with its customer-centric and application-based tools and brand. And now he's coming to the United States. Monzo announced Thursday that he will be settling in Los Angeles this summer and has invited potential customers to sign up on his waiting list in order to secure one of his Mastercard debit cards linked to an application as soon as they are available.

Monzo arrived on the British banking scene in 2015 and quickly gained ground with people eager to to digitize their money management. At first, Monzo's waiting lists were fiercely contested, and his neon-coral contactless bank cards became commonplace at the time. payment points around the country.

This is just one of the new types of "challenger banks" – banks designed to introduce new tools and features that serve digital natives in the same way as the traditional banking industry. But it's a competitive market, with competitors at all levels. These include other UK financial startups such as Revolut and Starling, new services such as Apple Card and even the established banks, who are starting to step up their game.

But Monzo, now the fastest growing bank in the UK, has particularly affected consumers. Today, the group has more than 2 million UK customers and 40,000 people open an account with the company every week.

One of the possible reasons could be that a central element of the brand Monzo is making decisions about what the bank should look like (including its name) and about the features that it will look like. she should have, with her clientele. As such, upon his arrival in the United States, he will not seek to replicate exactly what he has been doing in the United Kingdom, but to adapt to serve his new clientele.

Initially, a "lite" version of Monzo will provide US customers with some existing features, including instant spending notifications, person-to-person payments, jars to separate savings from pocket money and more. free spending abroad. The next step will be to organize events in US cities to discover the features customers want from the bank and integrate them.

Monzo has not yet established its official bank status in the United States; she will work with a partner bank to ensure that your money is fully protected. She asks to become a fully licensed bank.

S 'flourishing in the US market will be a much bigger challenge for the startup, but with contactless cards hung and as consumers adopt new payment behaviors, it's a good time to try their luck.