As some of you have spotted already - the Monzo Spain waitlist is here!!!
Just to answer a few questions early:
We’re not having a dedicated space on the forum for the new Spanish contingent at the moment but we’ll keep you up to date with what’s happening.
Reminder: You can only have one Monzo account at a time.So if you’ve got friends or family in Spain who you think could benefit from having a little Monzo magic in their life - please feel free to send them to the waitlist. (in Spanish or English)
You’re not able to refer across borders at the moment but it is something we’re looking into
My 2 cents is, it would be beneficial if you allowed people to have two accounts in separate countries. Many maintain an actual permanent address in more than one country, and it would benefit greatly!
Super-cool to see the expansion. I wonder what are the big technical challenges with expanding into Spain (and likely throughout Europe now!) are from Monzo’s perpsective.
Maybe if Monzo does a Revolut and starts Monzo ATMs? Besides that, I don’t think it’s their prerogative.
Regarding the offer of DCC, this will be up to the BIN number identified by the ATM operator - Monzo ES will likely have a separate BIN, so I imagine will still give you the choice of EUR or GBP, with GBP payments at a terrible conversion rate and a 5eur fee for EUR withdrawals
I did think that but then I also thought that runs the risk of being seen as the “British people bank” and pigeonhole them. Similar to how they have still got something of a reputation in the UK as a travel card (diminishing over the years but it’s still there).
There are enough British people in Spain that if they were all contributing their pensions into it or were young enough (and if Monzo works on the P2P transfers) that it could be a decent niche, honestly.
Not that I would want to be associated with balconing. Besides that though… I don’t really understand the Spanish market entry either. It’s saturated. Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell, N26, Revolut (much more famous on the continent), Banco Bilbao, Caixa etc
Not sure how well they will do, especially in a market where cash is a lot more prevalent.
Because Revolut got their Barcelona office? Gotta get there before Rev gets yet another fine. Maybe next, since Rev got a huge fine recently, leaving a nice gap in a cash-heavy market.
I don’t think trying to stay in the safer known is bad, especially they need to be cautious with their burn rate after wasting so much money on US market. The next attractive market I think is Poland, as there’s a decent number of Polish-British dual nationals, and they have one of the lowest savings per capita in the EU.
Lamentablemente, la respuesta correcta. Y una aceptación de que esto es el principio del fin para el foro.
From the depths of my mind I seem to remember an argument that all UK Monzo accounts are basic accounts (or were at the time). It’s probably something they’ll tidy up at some point when a noted compliance person does a review (or the AI agent flies into overdrive).
Monzo is going for a big swing, not a niche! I can’t find them right now, but there were some stats suggesting that Spain is a good market because of demographics, culture and market. In any event Monzo will have thought this through carefully!
Poland is an excellent shout. Perhaps someone should do a prediction poll?
But yes agreed Monzo shouldn’t want to be a niche, which is what I feared with the Spain thing. Chase going to Germany felt natural with their large financial industry out of Frankfurt. Monzo I couldn’t place anywhere but I would want them to succeed al la Revolut style of expansion.
Would be a real shame if it ends. Monzo is still the most engaging fintech brands out of them all, but if they close the forum then they need to reeeeally improve their customer service.
I’m not sure I buy that, Monzo entered the US having seen N26 fail in it along with giants like Barclays and HSBC not being able to crack it like others had before.
Think lots of big companies have big ideas without the actual ability to execute.
Good shout if they work out decent P2P. Otherwise with the ‘one account across Monzo’ rule, opening there would just be assuming that Monzo having British-Polish customers here would mean they’d be assuming that acquiring a separate base of customers in Poland is easy.
Gotta get there before Rev gets yet another fine. Maybe 
next, since Rev got a huge fine recently, leaving a nice gap in a cash-heavy market.
Monzo is still the most engaging fintech brands out of them all, but if they close the forum then they need to reeeeally improve their customer service.