Brexit and the impact on challenger banks

A question for @tom, @tristan et al. at :mondo:

With the EU referendum just a few days away, I was wondering what potential impact will withdrawal of the UK from the European Union have on the UK’s retail banking industry - particularly ‘challenger banks’ such as Mondo?

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I know it affects the banking licence, Tom spoke recently and said something along the lines that while in the EU Mondo can go all around Europe and very little paperwork is needed. Outside of the EU I believe mondo would need to apply for a banking licence for each country. Something like that anyway.

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Hey @saveen, good question! As you know, there’s a lot up in the air with Brexit so we’re kind of waiting until Friday to see what happens… :slight_smile: Fingers crossed!

I wrote a little piece on a post-Brexit future that gives a nod to Mondo. I hope you find it entertaining: https://twitter.com/rayhanresi/status/745530209437310982

@terryharman Thanks for your reply. Ouch, that sounds painful!

@tristan Cheers Tristan.

@rayhan Interesting, will check it out :slight_smile:

Would only need to apply in one EU country and then automatically have access to all. Best of all, with Estonia you can apply for an e-Residency and run everything from the UK (or anywhere else) without having to ever step into Estonia.

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Linking Brexit topics as part of forum housekeeping:

Plus posting today’s news:

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Thought I’d add Tom’s comment to this thread too -

In the latest Business Insider coverage of Monzo’s latest round of fundraising, there’s a comment from Jonas (Monzo Co-Founder & CTO) on the potential impact of Brexit on Monzo’s expansion into Europe -

When BI asked Huckestein about how Brexit would affect European expansion plans, he said: “In the unlikely event that Brexit occurs before we can passport our licence to other countries, we would have to get a licence from scratch in those countries. This would be annoying but not the end of the world.”

Theresa May is set to trigger Article 50 within weeks, officially beginning the two-year negotiating period to agree Britain’s exit from the EU. That means Brexit should happen in 2019 and Huckestein’s comment suggests Monzo is planning to be in Europe by then already.

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I would expect there to be a fast-track process to convert from passporting to a full licence within the EU, for companies who have already made use of the passporting options. That is also if passporting doesn’t survive as something still allowed post-Brexit also

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Just had Sky News on in the background when up pops Monzo being used in a piece about the potential uncertainty caused by Brexit. Can’t find it on their website, though it was on around 20:04 and you can probably rewind it from the Youtube live stream that’s here

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Excuse the sound

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I guess @tom’s dally with his Android phone didn’t last too long then :eyes:

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Oh yeah, some explaining needs to be done now! :smiley: To be honest, showing android app wouldn’t look as good if pulse graph is not there, it really enhances ‘bankish’ feel, rather than just show feed items for a second…

Thanks @anon72173902!

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Yes, especially as they then adopted the pulse (and the transaction feed) for their graphs of the economy. An implicit endorsement of @hugo’s design!

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I noticed that too :heart_eyes:

Still on my Google Pixel!

I borrowed @liamn’s larger iPhone 7 because it was easier to film

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I can vouch for @tom! Slightly embarrassed about my Starbucks addiction there :coffee::see_no_evil:

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