I presume they’re using the figures that directly come from the reports they talk about.
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OK I’d skimmed the article and now that’s obvious.
I usually think Sifted is quality journalism, and whilst the analysis is sound, I can’t help but feel that it’s all well and good, but there is already a major, global economic crisis in progress and the respective stakes in the ground last year are already largely irrelevant for comparison.
The article does make reference to Starling’s and Monzo’s responses to Coronavirus, but that just serves to make last year’s reports even more difficult to relate to what’s actually happening today.
An interesting quote though:
Lending seems to be the most obvious opportunity to monetise but has its challenges. Strong knowledge of how to effectively lend money and run a healthy loan book are key…
I wonder whether this is Boden’s strength after all, with Blomfield’s relative inexperience in banking now costing Monzo dear, with its ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ approach to lending.
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Maybe the goldilocks pricing/principle that if you have a free tier, a cheap tier and a premium tier, the cheap tier looks more attractive than if there was just a free and a cheap.
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Digital-only banks Monzo and Starling came out on top for both quality of service and online banking, while high street lender First Direct took the top spot for overdraft deals
Edit: I see it was posted elsewhere 
First Direct didn’t though, so I don’t know why The Mirror has reported that.
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I was reading it on the bus and thought I’d missed something really obvious
The Mirror has really gone downhill
I always thought it was already at the bottom of the hill, so not sure how much further down it could have gone! 
So has First Direct, according to this poll 
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Hopefully the Premium account will add more users when launched, it will likely be more profitable and in demand. When you lose £120 million in the year BEFORE coronavirus, an extra £250k a month (before costs) is nothing. Of course I know there are other things happening (eg headcount reduction) to help, Plus is not the only finger in the pie towards profitability. TS Anil will have a plan and hopefully try and court the media somewhat.
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You are right - I didn’t mean it that way 
What I mean is that some media outlets are constantly running negative pieces about Monzo - they do this because they know it gets clicks. Instead, they need to use the media to their advantage. Give them an exclusive. Team up with them for something. Give them what they want (clicks) instead of allowing them to make up rubbish.
For your second point, someone experienced (and by that, I mean TS Anil) needs to make decisions how to become profitable. Strategies coming from ‘within Monzo’ have already failed. It still doesn’t know if it wants to be a bank or a financial hub. It is the corporate world they are in, and they need to show some ruthlessness. Just as an example, if they killed all the heavy loss making accounts they would be slaughtered in the press, but I bet 12 months later it would have been worth it. Probably a correlation with all the ‘Monzo shut down my account’ fraud stories too.
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I believe this allegation had been made against the Times, Telegraph and FT among others who are all subscription based publications so they don’t really benefit from clicks…
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The Daily Telegraph got into all sorts of fuss over (allegedly) shilling and covering for HSBC, their major advertiser, though, so clicks is not the only game in town
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think they have had to forecast the losses on loans they don’t think they will get back. So part of their losses will be because of interest free overdrafts they had to give, and loans they think people will default on all due to COVID-19.
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A click is a click. Whether it is on an advert or a paywall signup link 
Traffic is the currency of the Internet.
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This
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I very much doubt more than half of those customers will continue to pay once the trial ends
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And I bet 94.25% of them will carry on paying.
We can all make up numbers.
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(thought this probably fitted into the ‘media’ section)
It really is ‘all change’ at Monzo towers.
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He’s still only 28!
That makes me feel soooo old
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