Metro Bank can have a registered non-binary (someone who neither sees themselves as male or female) customer.
Not sure if this is already supported in Monzo and it wouldn’t make me unable to use it if not. Before the bank officially launches with a current account and begins marketing to the masses, it would be a good idea to position Monzo as an all-inclusive bank. This means when asking for an applicants gender, offer a third option other than male or female. Also when asking for their title Metro have allowed for the popular option of “Mx”.
As of today, its application forms will allow people to declare themselves as non-binary and use the title “Mx” rather than Mr, Mrs or Ms.
and apart from those who see themselves as having no gender what about those who do feel they have a gender but not actually the one they are i.e. not the one their birth cert or passport says?
PS the USA are currently refusing to accept passports showing Mx instead of the internationally agreed Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms so some people have been refused entry into the country!
I can pick on Metro’s specific implementation but I have mostly positive feelings about this.
The pattern I’ve built up in unrelated projects I’ve been on is to reduce the amount of gendered language in general and removing the need to store any kind of gender information to the point where it doesn’t need to be on the signup form at all. From there, using genderless pronouns and preferred names (as opposed to maybe the name that would appear on a passport) wherever possible.
Would love to know what requirements could be imposed on Monzo that might hinder moves towards something like that as they begin to offer current accounts.
Trick is to have whatever official name on bank records but be able to pick what name you want and how you want it on your card…
e.g. a Miss Mary Smith could chose to be known as Mr Steve Smith on their card should they so choose
Gender-fluid meaning that from one day to the next they may feel differently as the gender(s) that they identify with.
For trans, the regular mr/miss/mrs/ms should be perfectly acceptable, but I would expect due to financial and credit history implications that their gender would need to be legally changed. That’s if a title is required.
I do like @RichardR’s suggestion though. If there’s no legal requirement (I can’t imagine why) for gender to be declared then it makes the whole service so much open.
Many years ago when RBS had Photocard Cheque Guarantee Cards with your photo on the back they let people have one in their official name and their chosen name with different photos should you chose to dress as a man or a woman on different occassions. Their card application form had fields where you write on what name you want on your card line 1 and line 2. Nowadays we have gone backwards and tend to have one line of embossing and no choice what it says.
It should accurate though to prevent fraud/money laundering, as much as I like the sound of “Lord Cmd Benjamin Green VII”. That’s where the identity verification comes in.
The other alternative is not asking for gender We currently don’t ask and we’re very keen to keep it that way. That’s proving difficult in some areas but we’re committed to exploring all the avenues — happy to answer any questions about this too!
I’m a bit late to this thread, but are you planning to take a preferred name at all? For example I have a friend who is legally named Ben, and would register a bank account under that name as it matches their legal name. But they prefer to go by Beth, I haven’t looked into it myself but I understand legally changing your gender is a massive pain.
If a title is required, this (or some reasonable alternative) is useful for people who prefer not to be defined by their gender, even if they identify with one of the traditional binary genders. But I think @RichardR and @tristan are right that the best solution is to remove gender language and specification entirely (if possible).
Given that is now through the licensing process and closer to general current account launch, I wonder if there is any update on this topic. Has it been possible to keep gender questions out of the equation for current accounts?
Not that I doubt you, but can you provide me with relevant news articles? I can’t find anything on internet and would love to read on cases of this. What would be the reason for refusing entry on this basis if the passport is otherwise official and legit?
Irish passport’s completely omit the title. No title anywhere on them. Never heard of anyone having issues entering country because their passport didn’t display a Mr. or Mrs. So inconsistent!
We currently don’t ask and we’re very keen to keep it that way. That’s proving difficult in some areas but we’re committed to exploring all the avenues — happy to answer any questions about this too!
is now through the licensing process and closer to general current account launch, I wonder if there is any update on this topic. Has it been possible to keep gender questions out of the equation for current accounts?