Monzo - 2019 - Will it Thrive or Fail?

I like everyones optimism but I feel as though someone with a pessimistic outlook for Monzo would be useful for us to assess.
Anyone feel the fin-tech disruption might just become one big bubble just like we have seen with cryptocurrency? and that big banks will soon catch on and invest in their own technology to wash away with all of these digital bank startups?

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You’ve got to dream to believe! New year positive, think happy jazz hands

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Yes of course I am rooting for Monzo but if no-one is ever going to be critical of the company in the early stages how will it know what needs to be improved or what we want …

I’m not sure they’ll “wash away” the likes of Monzo or Starling, but I can see the argument for switching to a challenger bank MUCH harder down the line.

Previously it’s been about instant notifications, legacy fees, poor customer service, slow mobile apps etc etc.

To be honest, a lot of that has gone already with some of the legacy banks - Ask your average joe on the street to switch bank accounts, and when you tell them the benefits of someone like Monzo or Starling, it probably won’t be enough (purely my own opinion).

If the challengers can do just enough to stay ahead, I think they’ll do well.

But I imagine he big boys will only really take notice, when they start to eat into genuine market share (may be too late by that point, but who knows).

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The big banks are in trouble (at least when it comes to current accounts). They have a branch network to manage decline within ( redundancy payments), bad PR etc), they typically run on old hardware such as mainframes which don’t just affect their speed but mean things like software releases are risky, and are a significant thing to maintain let alone move forward in. When it comes to migration you’ll Have seen what happens to RBS and TSB etc. They’ve done some “me too” bits with freezing cards and gambling blocks but when the fun stuff happens they simply have no way of integrating, migrating and adapting like Monzo etc. Given these restrictions it is hard to see how they will compete with their standard product. I think we’ll see more products like Mettle where you have to assume that the mother bank will try and migrate their large customer bases to their internal “startups”. And while they’re doing these huge projects the Monzo’s etc will be getting further ahead.

The bottle has been opened and the big banks are joining too late. Small teams with a vision will outperform huge teams of bank developers, often outsourced and relatively inflexible. My background is infrastructure migrations and I would honestly say that the migration from conventional infrastructure to microservice based infrastructure could take the old banks around three years. If you consider that there are disruptors in all their spaces they could be in big trouble. Perhaps we’ll see some mergers or acquisitions but the big banks got lazy and it takes ages to turn around the proverbial oil tanker.

TL:DR The disruptors win and take the spoils.

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This is my response from another thread in regards to Monzo and its human interaction, or more particularly its lack of human interaction…

I feel as the bank grows it will need to adapt and take a few traditional banking methods along with it that work well for example call centres and helplines where one can speak to an agent direct to discuss any issues/problems they may be having with their finances etc. I am aware this bank is still in its early stage of development and thus its unlikely to occur anytime soon as they have other priorities which will need access to funding and development first, but its just a thought;

Anyway this was my response and I advise people to check out this thread as its got some very interesting/useful comments;

"I like the idea of Monzo opening its platform to a web-based form so that we can view our account details online on are laptops/desktops etc. I believe this is the main reason why a large majority of my family are prevented from using Monzo as their bank of choice.

I also believe that your statement regarding face-to-face connections is vital for anyone dealing with my finances. I believe that in the near future - Monzo will have to look at developing a call centre or helpline etc.

I found myself visiting the HQ just before the Christmas holidays and was shocked to find that even the lady at reception was unable to put me in contact with any individual and was more occupied replying to emails at the front desk. I even remember two individuals walking in their office for a meeting and they were told to sign in via the iPad displayed infront of them. Like literally even entering Monzo’s office their is no face-to-face contact or human interaction. I was very disappointed with this as all I wanted to do was set up a meeting with someone from the careers department at a future date but was advised to go on the app and speak through the Monzo help forum to book a meeting! like seriously, I was in the office right there and then and had travelled very far and all I wanted to do was set up a meeting which they told me to do via the app.

Not all pessimistic as I love Monzo and thus that is why I invested in the company and will continue to watch it grow, I am just also stating that I don’t want to loose human interaction with every service I am offered in the future especially ones concerning my finance."

For me, as much as I love Monzo (obviously) I need to see profit, they need to become self sustaining in 2019. Any future fundraising should be purely to develop and not keep the lights on.

But I also think they are super close to that so this year will be the test for me.

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A lot of staff work remotely at least some of the time if not all the time. Or in the Cardiff office. Chances are there was nobody there. Why is face to face human interaction or by phone so important?

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I’d suggest shock is an inappropriate reaction to an effective dismissal after turning up on the ‘off chance’. I can quite imagine my own employer and most other company sites I’ve visited would behave in exactly the same way to that sort of approach.

Similarly, sign in on an iPad or a book. Companies just work that way (or have for the last 30 years) so, again, why the surprise? There may be better ways but, in this case, the current approach isn’t new or ground breaking in any way, positive or negative!

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crikey that “I invested in Monzo” didn’t last long :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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do you not think that human interaction is important? Especially when dealing with you’re finances?

Thats a fair comment, but it was a new experience to me as I am very used to face to face interaction and if you want information about a company or to get in touch with them then the most effective way to do so is the old - fashioned way I.e. turn up in a suit and try to speak to a colleague direct.

I suppose everyone is accustomed to their own preferences however it was unusual for me and something I suppose I and many others will have to get used to. However, I do still prefer companies operating like this, with human interaction at the focal point.

Yes, you are correct, I am interested in selling my shares. This is for personal reasons and not because I lack faith in the companies ability to perform. As mentioned I really like Monzo and the way it works. I just want for the community to assess certain problems more effectively rather than many individuals just promoting the company as this is not helpful for a company looking to grow and improve.

No, not at all. I was with First Direct for over 25 years and couldn’t wait to get away from having to ring them up to do basic banking.

I went into Monzo knowing full well what their approach was. There is the phone number on the back of the card for urgent enquiries but I find in app chat to be much better as I always have a record of what has been discussed.

Different approach for different folks :wink::+1:

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oh I agree , the company should take the negative comments in the same way as the positive comments and learn from them , as feathers previously mentioned for an individual to expect somebody at Monzo to drop what they are dong for an ad-hoc meeting about possible future careers at their business without any prior notice is in my opinion somewhat hmmm ill thought out - imagine if 1% of customers turned up on Monzo doorstep every week wanting an informal chat with someone without warning or indeed just to chat about specific un announced queries :slight_smile:

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Yes, you are right. However, I approached the situation as best as I thought possible. I couldn’t find any contact number to schedule such meeting and I tried contacting fellow employees on various social media platforms. None of this worked so I decided to try and directly contact Monzo at their office, I assumed I was taking the initiative but as I have thought about it then yes there may of been better ways to go about contacting Monzo. But I felt at that time that this was the easiest and most effective way of getting in touch - however, I was wrong and thus learnt from that.

Out of interest. How would you go about seeking contact with a member of the Monzo recruitment team?

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I would expect that turning up to any company HQ without an appointment you would get the same reaction. From reading your story it seems that you’ve assumed their HQ to be like a high street bank where you can pop in as a customer for a chat.

Headquarters from my experience are the corporate business side, not customer facing :man_shrugging:

Edit: @Feathers beat me to it. Damn I was far too slow :laughing:

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lol I would ring Tom - whether he answered would be a different question :slight_smile:

no, in all seriousness I would look at the Monzo careers page and apply if there was a role I felt I was suited to and qualified for ???

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Googling it I found their careers page: Careers at Monzo

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I visited the HQ to book an appointment as mentioned previously. However was informed to seeking booking via the Monzo chat helpline which I wasn’t aware of as to how you go about booking appointments as it seemed unusual to me at the time.

Does this add some clarity to your thinking?.