Competitor update

[alexs (Alex Sherwood)]

Tom explained why it’s beneficial for Monzo to have a banking license in more detail in the London Fintech podcast.

For context -

@alexs

Partnerships with banks & building on top of bank’s APIs to create products, access to payment schemes are all possible hypothetically but these things can’t be done at the moment

& the benefits are

@alexs

direct access to payment schemes, the bank business model - taking deposits & lending that money, to earn net interest margin, FSCS deposit protection, control over compliance ‘burden’

You don’t have to work with a card sponsor or issuing bank who have their own ideas about risk & compliance and tend to “gold plate” regulation.

Simple.com use Bancorp & N26 use Wirecard and “their biggest problem is their sponsor bank”

it’s also worth considering the fact that

@alexs

relying on partner banks implying you are only ever a reseller