If anyone is using both Monzo and Xero and would be interested in testing an integration between them (syncing expenses/receipts, in particular) then please chime in below or message me directly. Likewise for any related ideas. It would be great to get a discussion started.
Thanks!
Thanks Luke. I’ve written a couple of Monzo and Xero apps before, so familiar with respective APIs. Was just keen to hear what others might find useful in an integration between the two.
@mrw34 yes very interested in this. Have just started using my mondo card for staff expenses and we use xero for accounting - let me know if you have anything we can try out as it would be really useful?
Have made a start but currently on hold pending Monzo API changes. Will keep you updated!
I’m thinking of signing up for Monzo, and a great feature for me would be able to use it for personal expenses and the occasional business expense. (My business cards aren’t contactless so I end up using personal card then reclaiming) My suggestion would be to categorise those expenses and then create those as an expense claim in Xero. I use Tripcatcher for my mileage and that is how they create an expense. I think a Monzo feed into Xero would risk confusing personal and business accounts but might be useful for some.
That sounds good. Monzo has a dedicated Expenses category so you can distinguish between your business & personal transactions.
When Xero set up the integration (assuming that Monzo don’t partner with them directly), they’ll be able to ensure that only the Expenses transactions are pulled into Xero too 
By the way, if you’re not yet 100% sure about whether to sign up to Monzo, take a look at this feedback from other users https://twitter.com/MonzoLoveTweets.
Yep. For this to work you’d obviously have to either a) be careful to only tag business expenses with the “expenses” category or b) use an appropriate alternative tag. The current Monzo API is a bit limited here - it notifies when a transaction is made, but not when it’s (re)categorised, so your app has to periodically check whether there are new relevant transactions. There’s also the question of how you would automatically combine a set of transactions into a single claim.
Anyway, I wrote an app to automatically create a Xero Receipt for transactions recently categorised as expenses in Monzo. It works nicely but is on hold until the Monzo API is finalised. At that point there may well be other options, such as Zapier, Workato or even official support via Xero (direct bank feeds etc).
Signed up about ten minutes later and card is due on 1st April!
I think the category or tag option would work well, as long as you can go back over your month and review payments. It would be great to do that in one step from Monzo to Xero (with Tripcatcher your mileage claim appears in Xero as a draft expense claim with one click) but an interim step via Zapier or IFTTT might be a solution for now. Or a dedicated app that acts as the bridge.
One issue Tripcatcher have had is that the email address for the Tripcatcher account needs to be identical (even upper/lowercase usage) for the link to work. For a mileage app it is easy to change email address but I wonder if, as a banking app, it would be harder with Monzo. The other option is to change Xero email to match Monzo. It is always an issue for me as I use gmail aliases for each login to make them more secure.
It would be interesting to know if Xero could support a feed from Monzo where it ignores most payments but only adds tagged items, or items that you flag up, to your business accounts. My worry is that if I linked a personal Monzo feed to the Xero account of my ltd company, it might end up trying to account for those personal transactions within my business finances. My guess is that using an expense claim set up would be the neatest answer to avoid any blurring between business and personal.
Keep me posted!
Really impressed so far - the speed that the transactions appear is amazing and means you are always up to date.
This may be a point for another thread but I think adding tags or categories for transactions would be a simple way to manage business expenses and also provide more insight. The budgeting app Toshl is great for this. Multiple tags per transaction is incredibly helpful. You can tag as luxury or essential, holiday or work.
Hi Claire, @alexs had the bright idea 
to use emojis as identifiers for “subcategories” - i.e. you could use different emojis to distinguish between “personal” and “business” expenses - whilst still categorising them both as expenses. Perhaps that would be something that could work for you?
The icons idea is brilliant - very quick way to scan spending and I’m using them as categories.
Yes very interested in this! We are using Monzo as a Prepaid credit card for business travellers. We have asked employees to use it exclusively for Business as all the Top up’s are coming from our Business Bank account - so the overlap with Personal is less applicable to us. The main need for us is getting the transactions along with the Photo receipts into Xero. Will look into Zapier for this.
Hi @mrw34 very interested in hearing more about the intergration between Xero and Monzo. Thanks James
I’d like to see this working.
Ideally, I’d tag a transaction in Monzo as Expenses and - in Monzo - see whether the transaction is Claimed and, ultimately, Reimbursed.
Even better if it can be submitted straight into Xero (with photo receipt) as a draft expense claim. I’d probably want to group all the Monzo expense items for a period in Xero so that they can be reimbursed with one payment to the Monzo account recorded in Xero; with the status of the transactions in Monzo automatically updated from Claimed to Reimbursed.
I like that idea - I’ve ended up using Monzo as my main day to day expenses, personal and business, so this would be a great integration
Have you made any progress in making a Monzo - Xero link? I use Xero to track my personal as well as business transactions so would be keen to use it.
Unfortunately I’m no longer using Xero and therefore not planning to pursue this. But there remains potential for a useful integration when the Monzo API is finalised and would love to see it implemented.
Just got my Monzo card and activated. It’s great. +1 for a Xero - Monzo integration however just like TSB… Please ensure you create a personal bank account integration as, post Brexit, lots of people will not be able to afford business bank accounts at the beginning of their new self employed futures. Some lateral thinking would also be good on this one as businesses really need to automate where possible. It is a time game. The next best option seems to be a free start up Co-op business account with FSB member access. Accounting software integrations are a great and easy way to get the information over to the accountant without having to do much work.