I like that Starling has a “Home page”. Its one of the things that Monzo could improve on.
Just a quick overview of what you’re doing and anything that could need your attention. Going straight into transactions is too “Banky” for my liking. It shouldn’t be the main focus if Monzo want to grow.
Personally I like it going straight to transactions.
You could do it like Nordea do with their internet banking and have a start page option in settings.
You could then start on a home page or on transactions etc depending which you select as your preference.
Yeah, any option would be good. I don’t see Starling/Monzo as “Banks” and they really shouldn’t be seen like that either. They should be a place where you manage your finances beit banking, insurance, savings etc.
I guess as it grows there would be more benefit in a home page which can direct you to relevant sections.
I think Tom Blomfield has said he wants Monzo to be more of a Hub than just a bank.
E.g Apple started as a PC company but when you’re shopping there now you can pretty much cover most tech in your life.
The Card Accounts tab that’s on the way has more of a control center look. I’d be surprised if users check it more than their transaction feed, even after more integrations are added but Monzo will have the data to know that.
I’ve moved your post here as this idea deserves it’s own topic, I hope that’s ok 
Funny enough most banks actually delay that view one or two steps down the navigation. You usually need to tap first on some sort of “account list” or similar to get to your transactions (your two days old transactions 
).
We might reconsider this in the future (as the product becomes more complex) but for now I’m not sure this idea of a “cover” for the app would really works for us + I do believe that our transaction view provides way more value than a regular bank statement (even though currently is still quite basic).
As a general rule I see Monzo closer to Instagram/Facebook/Twitter (a stream of things that you find when opening your app: your salary has been paid, your friend has sent you a bill splitting request, your insurance is about to expire, etc.) than to a menu or high level summary.
I guess as Monzo is app based IMHO i’d like to see more of a welcome screen e.g.
“You’re right on track for that holiday. Great job! (Pots feature)”
“Did you know you’re currently spending more than you did last month?”
"I think we can save you £200 on your energy bills with “Bulb"
Want to check them out?”
etc etc
and some of us would want to permanently skip any welcome screen
Its not for everyone I guess. Just thinking from a progression point of view, any integration will most likely be dismissed or ignored in the transactions tab.
I think that’s the key of this conversation. Our “home” feed is not a transaction tab. Even though it currently contains mostly just transactions that’s not our goal. We want it to be a stream of events that are useful to you (all those things you’ve mentioned, actually).
Re-reading your comments I have the feeling we might be talking about the same thing? We just don’t want to hide the transactions under one extra level but we definitely want you to see all those new events at first sight.
Personally I’d hate that… one of the best things about monzo is getting to the transactions list is quick and easy. If it gets bloated with ‘offers’ then it quickly becomes useless.
I think the stream of transactions/info will mean you get a lot of lost offers.
Has anyone used Apple’s HomeKit app? Its starts with a Hub and you move through the app to different aspects of HomeKit.
It will never go straight to the list of bulbs you can turn on or off.
What is it of primary interest to me in a Banking App? Yep, it’s the transactions. Starling’s pulse is a UI Designer’s extravagance that serves little useful purpose and is an example of form over function. I want to see the transactions. 
I recall the mid to late 1990s Internet. It was en vogue for websites to have a cover page or splash page much like the cover of a book that you had to open before you got to the content. What a waste of time*. Give people what they came for.
even worse when you had Flash splash pages
Can we not have ‘Great job!’ though, please because, you know, I’m an adult and I don’t need to be patronised by an algorithm, thanks.
lol really? You find that patronising 
Isn’t Monzo more than a bank though or am I missing the whole point here.
I’d say it’s a bank that does other ‘stuff’ but if the ‘stuff’ starts to interfere with the banking then there are going to be problems. While some of the integrations etc. could be interesting, if they’re done in such a way as to impact the banking too much then I suspect people will be tempted to move on.
A potential downside to a bank-in-an-app is that we’re all conditioned by the fact that there’s always “another app” that can do similar things.
Interesting to see peoples views on this. Thanks for the feedback
Out of a sense of completeness, please don’t anyone take this personally but I also find the “Great Job” sort of message patronising in the extreme.
To be honest, it’s the sort of thing that makes me grind my teeth in annoyance and feel pity for the poor software engineer who had to code it (because I assume that they think like me and so would have felt embarrassed in having to write the code).
Sorry 
It always fascinates me when I run up against something like this and have to accept that not everyone thinks in the same way.
That’s the promise, but it’s early days yet. The current app, whilst promising, lacks much of what FD and RBS can do.
I wouldn’t like a welcome/ overview page- I want to see my transactions asap! I’d prefer a separate “home”/ offers tab like what they’re doing now. I tabulate my daily spending on a separate app across “wallets” ie different bank accs, wallet, sites like PayPal balance, etc. and this allows me to quickly access everything I’ve spent/ updates/ card checks
I personally would love prompts for spending/ saving eg “you’ve spent £120 at Topshop, you’re spending your shopping budget too quickly. Spend £50 over 15 days to stay within target” which is an extension of the existing notification message anyway. I think the current notification message could be refined, it’ll sometimes tell me I’m spending too quickly even if I’m just buying a £2 coffee.
But I know some will find it patronising/ annoying/ serve no purpose in changing their spending habits. Don’t know if it would be useful to be able to toggle it on/off or if having this option would be too much trouble than its worth