Having just watched the recent open forum on lending hosted at Monzo, I found it very interesting with some great questions raised and an excellent panel and host.
It seemed to me that some of the more intractable problems with lending and legislation may be solved if Monzo were to become a state owned entity - maybe not under the current political climate - and wondered if this was something Monzo had thought about? I appreciate this may not be a popular or even practical possibility but it seems like it might align with Monzo’s social and ethical values. Wondered if it had been considered and also wanted to start a (hopefully productive) discussion about this.
Now I am a bit of a leftie, so not averse to such adventures, but not sure nationalisation and social & ethical values are necessarily always or automatically comfortable bedfellows
Not sure this is the best way forward to be honest - although interested to see why you think that it would help?
Aren’t all the regulations applicable whether state owner or not? I think RBS is still owned partially by the taxpayer and they are in some really hot water.
Don’t think the BoE or FCA care who owns the bank, all they care is that they can handle the stress tests and have the required deposits sitting in the relevant places.
This seems like it would work but, in practice, probably wouldn’t.
Having a mixed economy of public and private companies raises level playing field issues and the role of the regulator. While Monzo might have more of a direct line to the policy markets (the people that sit in Whitehall) they wouldn’t have the ability to unilaterally change the rules, so would still be subject to them. Unless Monzo became the only bank - in which case lots of Tom’s comments about innovation and competition become kinda moot and the whole landscape changes!
If we take this back to first principles, companies quite often have a public policy team, responsible for interface with the government to put their views/evidence across and try to guide future laws and regulations. I haven’t seen anything about a Monzo team in this area, but it’s a super useful set of people to have. Especially as Monzo moves forward and starts thinking about how regulation / law could help reform the industry going forward.
- and wondered if this was something Monzo had thought about? I appreciate this may not be a popular or even practical possibility but it seems like it might align with Monzo’s social and ethical values. Wondered if it had been considered and also wanted to start a (hopefully productive) discussion about this.