Competitor update

Financial Times saying Tandem have lost their banking license as result of funding being pulled.

https://www.ft.com/content/b1499004-0d7f-11e7-b030-768954394623

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Tandem said this afternoon:

Our intention to voluntarily surrender the part of our regulatory permission to take deposits means that we won’t launch savings accounts as planned this summer. Those investors and Co-Founders that have already opened a savings account with us will receive their money back before the end of the week.

This won’t delay our launch to the market, with the app still launching to the public in the coming months, followed by credit cards later this year.

We will reapply for our deposit-taking permissions at some stage in the future. In the short-term, however, we are focused on launching our other products as soon as possible.

What has the response been from the regulators?
The PRA and FCA have been supportive throughout this process. We remain regulated by the FCA, as it was before this decision.

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The PRA FCA register still shows them as a bank with status “Authorised”

Ouch. Can they really continue now?

I guess that depends on their financial situation right now but assuming that’s ok, I don’t see any reason why they could switch to a fee based model, like Revolut’s to earn revenue & cover their costs for now…

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That’s certainly thrown a spanner in the works!!

Its survival of the fittest, and they’re not that at the moment. The ‘nearly’ being a bank model seems something that most are going for.

Monzo and Starling certainly appear to be top of the tree at the minute, but I’m sure others will be challenging soon enough. I guess it just depends on what suits you and what you want from it all.

None have actually produced a full current account, and the race is on. Whilst not necessarily ensuring survival, it’ll be loads of free press for the first to launch.

It’s easy to forget we are dealing with startups where spelling mistakes and spanners are to be expected.

Sadly, however awesomely funny the spelling mistakes are, the spanners hurt.

Would be awesome to have the challenger bank tribe succeed together, pushing each others innovation.

But there will of course be casualties.

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The more challenger banks there are, the more competition there will be, so I hope they all succeed.

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Agreed, would be good to see the likes of n26 in the UK, as well as driving innovation…

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It would! Tom reckons they’re about a year ahead of Monzo right now :runner:

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STARLING

I’ve been using Starling a few days now having got my card at the end of last week - just wanted to share my thoughts so far. Obviously both are still beta so improvements are ongoing.

+ves
Being a bank has its upsides - faster payments, direct debits, standing orders etc. I need these in day to day life and the process for setting up new payees is super easy compared to any existing bank.
I also really like receiving the notification when cash comes in, whether it be a paycheque or money from a friend who doesn’t use monzo.

-ves
Monzo’s transaction detail is vastly superior currently, with Starling’s transaction data feeling NatWest like.
The pie chart in S doesn’t seem to show any useful insight at this time - Monzo targets again are ahead of the game.

Overall
Great to have a live competitor and I’m looking forward to Monzo offering a full banking service at some point in the summer. If I’ve come across negative about Starling I should add that I think they are the best bank in the market now in terms of providing data and ease of use. I will keep my other accounts open for higher credit interest (Starling gives 0.5%) and cashback on bills for now…

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All sounds quite positive bearing in mind they are still in beta.

My name is down for Starling. Maybe I’ll be luckier with getting a Starling account invite, than I have been with the Monzo investment invite!!

I like the Starling colors, but would just like to know a bit more about the account itself. Fee free overseas spending looks welcome tho.

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Thanks @ben for the insight, although not liking the sound of Natwest style transaction data :frowning:

@Citibadger im starting to feel the same as you… :frowning:

Although did get an email from Atom saying how many customers signed up last week… they where my hope for a current account but cant see that being close…

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“I also really like receiving the notification when cash comes in, whether it be a paycheque or money from a friend who doesn’t use monzo.”

This is what Emirates NBD do, when money comes in or I spend I get a text message within seconds.

I am surprised UK banks can’t do it.

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Cleo helps me get around this for Barclays and Santander, sadly Santander have quite a delay so if you go overdrawn for instance you may find out at the end of th day

Hopes fade for the Co-operative Bank as The Bank Bank of England has placed them under “intensive supervision” in contingency plans to ensure the “orderly failure” of the 150 year old bank.

If or when the bank collapses deposit holders will be protected by the FCSC scheme, but those with deposits in excess of those limits would be prudent to withdraw their excess money now.

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Revolut announced a premium package where you pretty much get unlimited everything + travel insurance for £7/month.

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I’d be down for this £7 thing :eyes:

I don’t really get what the £7 gives you? Travel insurance is like £1/month, so what’s the other £6 for?