Been reading some of the recent posts on here, and also now that Starling are up and running.
I think we all do need to remember that this is just a bank account no matter how many emoji you plaster all over it.
I’m a Monzo investor and a Starling account holder, and so far i’m impressed with both services compared to my interactions with Santander, Barclays and HSBC.
For me its all about great customer service on the end of integrated live chat to sort out problems with a Customer Service Rep that IS actually empowered and trained well enough to make proper decisions and give proper advice.
I love the real time balance updates and do consider that it a must have with any account going forward.
I’m also happy with the fee structure as its fair and works in a way that makes people manage their finances responsibly.
I’d like a nimble Savings System that I can easily push money into.
But after that what else do I REALLY need? I just want my bank account to operate in the background of my life so I can get on with the awesome stuff.
Nice Work Monzo and Starling but please remember to solve problems and not create new ones.
I actually really like this post although perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect. It perfectly sums up how users will look at the traditional bank’s, once they’ve added the (ultimately quite basic) functionality that Monzo has now.
I believe that fundamental banking services will become utilities, once marketplace banking & FinTech providers expose bank’s ‘premium’ services as the 2nd rate products that they really are.
For me, the real value of the challengers is that they’re giving user’s true control over their finances that they’ve never had before - that’s step one.
But the exciting bit - where banks go beyond being utilities - is a completely redesigned revenue model (so none of the punitive charges that we’re used to) & the implementation of technology like the API, which enable things like marketplace banking.
When I asked Tom which would be the most impactful - products like the overdrafts or Monzo enabling users to leverage their data & identity - at an open office event, he very firmly said that it’s the latter.
So for example, your bank is one of the few entities that other companies trust to verify who you are. Once Monzo has that trust, can share your identity easily (with your permission) & other companies can therefore trust you, I think you’ll be amazed to see how many more services - that have nothing to do with banking - companies can give users quick & easy access to.
It’s those sorts of things that make Monzo’s potential much greater than any traditional bank’s could be so watch this space
PS I’m not quite sure what you’re imagining here but so far, I haven’t noticed Monzo creating new problems so it seems strange to me that you’re worrying about this -
I guess what i’m saying when I suggest about “not creating new problems”, Is that the prepay card/current account is a light and nimble service, I can get answers quickly and the “thing” itself is quite simple, Bloating it up with additional niche functionality just slows my life down.
To be fair there is not much evidence of this at the moment, but project spec creep does happen in these situations.
Yeah, I’m more fussed that the app stays lean, clean and tidy rather than the app attempt to become very ambitious. If we can’t get Clubcard and Nectar and other loyalty integrations in without making the app overly complex and a hundred submenus, then I’d rather it was just left out.
It’s also worth remembering that other service providers all have their own UIs too and Monzo doesn’t necessarily have to replace them all.
This was reiterated in Monzo’s annual report today -
The future of banking is data and identity.
& here are some of the ideas at the top of Tom’s mind
Imagine if you could collect loyalty points simply by using your Monzo card to pay in shops. Or if your gas and electricity tariff was automatically switched to ensure you’re always getting the best deal. Imagine opening a new ISA with a couple of taps, investing all the money Monzo has helped you save. We are looking at early prototypes of these third-party integrations today and some are already pretty magical. We will aim to roll out a handful of these to our customers in the next 12 months.
