I would never want to imagine that!
I dont see Monzo going anywhere either but thats my opinion. I love Monzo so much for how it has changed how i control my money 
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Just for fun - My Prediction (hope) for Monzo - yes I want this so I can cash in my shares before anyone else says this !!!
Marcus (Goldman Sachs) and JP Morgan fight over Monzo and a bidding war starts with Lloyds entering for a bit just to bid up the price for every one before dropping out.
both US banks are looking to increase their presence in the uk banking market and now is the time to take Monzo out after its 40% haircut - if they leave it any longer they risk Monzo increasing in price - especially if they start to make inroads in to cutting their losses.
An approach might happen after the 2020 results are released in June, possibly before.
if before, the loss’s would probably not be published until the winning bidder reported their own results as they would have to show the impairment in their results.
Tom leaving means that it removes the risk of any bidder being made to look like they pushed Tom out - as that would be a PR disaster for them. Tom may have realized this and he left now not only for his health but so he did become an issue / block for any take over.
My predicted take out price is £1 Billion (bidding starts at £750 million and finishes at £1 billion thanks to Lloyds bidding it up)
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So the following was placed as a comment under the article to explain MREL, no idea of the accuracy. These are not my words but I found it interesting.
“banks do not hold MREL
MREL is a term that encompasses a number of instruments that are a source of funds for the bank, that can be found on the RHS of the bank’s balance sheet along with other liabilities such as deposits and other senior debt . The instruments that are classified as MREL include common equity and subordinated debt that can be written off or converted to equity without triggering a default. This would allow the bank to continue operations, sufficiently capitalised, or allow the bank to be resolved (closed down, basically) in an orderly fashion, with the aim of protecting holders of those funding instruments that aren’t MREL instruments, particularly deposits.
Assets, which is what banks hold, sit on the opposite, LHS side of the balance sheet (the use of funds side) and include loans to customers, govt bonds, other financial assets, a small amount of plant and property, and central bank reserves (deposits at the central bank). As noted, very little of Monzo’s assets are loans to customers, being mainly UK govt bonds and central bank reserves.
The calculation of the quantity of equity and other MREL instruments that the bank has to fund these assets with is based on a percentage of those assets, weighted by risk. The risk weightings of govt bonds and central bank reserves are both zero. Then there are add-ons applied to reflect risks other than credit risk that might lead to losses. In the case of Monzo, there aren’t just risks of losses caused by events other than credit losses; Monzo is already experiencing these losses! It’s simply the ‘cash burn’ of holding very low yielding assets (on the use of funds side of the balance sheet) and having highish cost liabilities (on the source of funds side of the balance sheet). Last year Monzo’s credit write-offs were almost equal to its net interest income and its wage bill was far larger than net fee income. The losses that it is making (and will likely continue to make) are going to burn through its equity, which is why, despite its relatively safe assets, its MREL requirement is relatively high.
Monzo is in a bit of a Catch-22 situation. Its MREL is relatively high because it is loss making. It’s loss making partially because it has to fund with a high quantity of MREL compliant debt instruments, the holders of which demand high coupons. To increase its NIM it would need to acquire higher yielding, but riskier assets, although this might increases its MREL!
There doesn’t seem an easy way out. I suspect the game plan is to be bought by a larger rival.
”
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Can definitely see the attraction for Goldman Sachs and think it would actually be a good tie up.
They wouldn’t sell for less than £3.5bn I reckon.
Yes me too, I’m starting to feel there isn’t really an alternative but for the bank to be brought out. They clearly are popular, I love them but polarity doesn’t equality to profit always.
Although I would love for you to be right I can’t see a buyer paying more than between £1-£1.2 Billion (current valuation)
Monzo needs to expand its range of products and move in to things that make big profits like deposit based lending, mortgages, credit cards .
Monzo has started to monitise with premium accounts etc but that’s not going to make it enough to be profitable and it needs a partner with cash - like JP MORGAN and Goldman.
It’s a buyers market as I can’t see Monzo getting anywhere fast with out moving in to the big money making areas
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Totally agree
man this thread scares me sometimes
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Great stuff means that the content must be fantastic and gets your blood pumping
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Agreed 
Ah, good old Telegraph. “How do we get more clicks on this article? Oh, I know! Let’s shove Monzo in there! SEO FTW.”
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Same story on Reuters, but no reference to Monzo. Go figure. Interesting though.
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If nothing else it might shake Goldman Sachs up a bit, as the Marcus brand is just sat there doing nothing at the moment, as far as I can see.
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Plot twist, Tom had a Thanksgiving Turkey dinner and is now joining Chase to launch the UK challenger bank all over again.
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Any chance of getting rid of the pay wall on this?
Please don’t ask to subvert newspaper paywalls, this is against community guidelines.
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Really?
OK, noted. Any particular reason?