Monzo Meetups

It was great to meet a few guys tonight at the name launch, but definitely made me think that one aspect of this bank that is different is the community behind it.

Any future meetups planned? It’s not for everyone but there were some good chats going on over beers tonight!

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Would be good to see, had some very interesting chats!

It was really great to put some faces to names. I concur with @coffeemadman (nice meeting you yesterday) its a great USP for a Bank with like minded people meet and share experiences as well as having talks on banking from industry experts and getting updates from the :mondo:onzo team. :wink:

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We’d love to! I’m sure @Naji has some plans for more regular meetups over the next few months :slight_smile:

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I agree to that. Focus groups possibly on brainstorming ideas and the like.]

… with perhaps a beer and pizza or three :wink:

Definitely something we’d like to do more of! Beer, pizza and confetti cannons are always good :tada: but it would also be great to hear if the general preference is towards more casual, free flowing meet ups or smaller topic focused knowledge-sharing type sessions. There’s room for both but always good to know for future planning!

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Hi @Naji,

I’d be up for a catch up and the topic I have in mind is vulnerable customers and digital banking. It’s something I’m working on at the moment, but I’d love to hear if there are any experiences, good and bad, where digital banking is concerned or anything that could prove tricky for someone with specific needs. That topic might lend itself to a smaller more focused session, but I shall be led by the experts!

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Hey @shada

That’s a really interesting idea and something that could work well as a smaller discussion session at the office.

Adapting our product and service to both protect and empower vulnerable customers requires a multitude of design considerations we’re committed to reconciling. The team had a fascinating and informative talk from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute not long ago which definitely refreshed the subject in peoples minds.

It’s something that we’re still exploring and it would be really interesting to hear what you have been working on in this regard too. Definitely food for thought. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Great idea, would give us customers a real unprecedented insight to the corporate side of a startup and a financial institute, it’s great being involved so early in such an exciting time for Monzo

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@Naji In that regard, have your research team also been looking into the global advances of all banking systems across the globe, finding the best received practices, opposed to jus the limitations of how the UK runs currently?

Hi Naji

I’ve had discussions with Duncan about Monzo helping me out on a Digital Standards Development Project (see attached ToR) and Duncan’s working on putting some dates together for me to come and chat to the key stakeholders. In the meantime I’ve also had a number of conversations with our registered firmshttps://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/registered-firms/ and a debt advice body (National Debtline), and one theme that is consistently being raised is the challenge of ensuring digital channels can adequately identify and support vulnerable customers. One firm even asked if there could be a cross-firm working party to thrash out some ideas. I’m happy to organise this meeting at our offices, but it would be great if there was Monzo representation as well?

As a pre-cursor, I think it would be really helpful to find out what the Monzo community views are and if there are any examples of good or bad outcomes, either with yourselves or other financial organisations?

Thanks
Shada

Shada Nasrullah
Compliance Manager
Lending Standards Board | 5th Floor Abbey House | 74-76 St John Street | London EC1M 4DZ
020 7012 0085 | 07584 299 207 | shadanasrullah@lstdb.org.ukmailto:shadanasrullah@Lstdb.org.uk | Twitter @lendingstdbrd

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I support this idea, for sure!

On a broader note too, it would be interesting to figure out how the Monzo community might start growing and offering support in different ways as the bank grows too. Off the top of my head, offering advice to people on how to best handle their outgoings (a la various money forums) but perhaps with the added benefit of anonymised spending data. Although such things would have to be managed carefully, you get the picture (e.g. spend of £x in retail category, with no location data).

It really starts to get away from the traditional approach to banking where it’s just you and the institution (having taken the place of a bank manager) and starts to make it more about the ongoing community and a more generally productive relationship with Monzo.

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@PMH I agree :ok_hand:! We have to tread very carefully with regards to offering financial advice where we are not placed to do so; however inherently, the focus of the app is geared towards simplifying information on what/how we spend, to help us manage our finances the best way we can. We’ll be producing more content on the blog addressing relevant issues surrounding new features we’re introducing (lending, budgeting etc). These will be authored by people from various parts of the business and there will also be opportunities for the community to get involved and enrich this offering too.

@RHMcMillan Good question :smiley:! This might be something @Tom can answer a little better.

@Naji Absolutely, I definitely think this sort of stuff should be implemented very very carefully to avoid anything going awry (especially since this could feasibly have an impact on a person’s financial situation)

I suppose I was mostly just musing about how the active and engaged community base could be used to support beyond the technical side of the app - but all things in good time and all that

Hey @Naji how are you?
shall we put a date in the diary to discuss further?

Yep really good thanks @shada :slightly_smiling_face: Could you PM me your e-mail address, and I can drop you a line to discuss further :+1: