Hello 
I’m here to let you know that we’re rolling out a new feature that significantly reduces friction in how you add money to your account from the Monzo app. We’re calling this new feature “Pre-approved transfers”.
Add money 
Adding money to your Monzo account from within the app uses Open Banking to make a payment from your other bank account to Monzo. The main benefit of this is that you are not required to manually enter account details. This makes transferring money less error prone, more secure and generally quicker (because Open Banking uses Faster Payments).
However, you’re still required to approve each payment with your other bank. This usually looks like being sent to the other bank, logging in, pressing “approve” or “continue”, and being sent back to Monzo. This is still a fair amount of friction and can be made worse depending on the experience with the other bank.
What’s new? 
Open Banking has been progressing in the past few years and the latest piece of technology to be released is Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs). This new feature enables customers to define and approve a set of limits on their bank account such that they aren’t required to approve each payment (as long as the payment falls within the limits).
For example, you could set up a £500 monthly transfer limit on your account and make as many Open Banking payments from that account until you reach the £500 limit. After this, you’ll be required to approve each payment or approve another set of limits on the account.
Adding money - but easier 
We’ve made adding money to your account even easier using this new piece of technology.
You can now set pre-approved transfer limits with your other bank from within the Monzo app. All transfers that fall within the limit won’t require you to leave the Monzo app for approval; the money will move instantly. This significantly reduces friction and the amount of time you’ll spend outside of the Monzo app.
Wow, tell me how 
When adding money to your account, you’ll have the option to set up pre-approved transfer limits. You can either select “Next” which will take you to the setup screen or select “No, thanks” which will continue with the current add money flow.
After choosing limits for the other account, you’ll be sent to your other bank to approve or reject the limits. You’ll then be sent back to the Monzo app. If successful, the transfer will take place and your limits will now be set up.
This set of limits is now available to use to add money to your account; you won’t be sent to your other bank for approval (as long as the transfer falls within the limits).
If you don’t want to use the pre-approved limits or would like to create another set of limits then you can do so by selecting a different “From” account.
Managing pre-approved transfers 
Limits will refresh over the period for which they are defined, i.e. monthly and yearly. If you reach your limit within the period then you can continue to add money by using the current add money flow or by setting up a new limit.
To view and manage your pre-approved transfer limits, navigate to Manage 
Limits & Controls Pre-approved transfers.
How do I turn the feature on and off? 
You’ll be able to turn on the new feature under Settings Monzo Labs Pre-approved Transfers (UK only). You can turn the feature off in the same way.
It’s also possible to use the existing easy transfer flow by selecting “No, thanks” when asked to set up a pre-approved transfer limit.
Bank support 
Not all banks currently support this feature. If this flow doesn’t appear for your bank of choice then it will likely be that they don’t support these limits. We’re keeping an eye out for when banks finish their implementation and will update the app accordingly.
For clarity, here’s a list of banks that currently support this feature:
- Barclays
- First Direct
- HSBC
- Lloyds Group (Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland)
- Nationwide
- NatWest Group (NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster)
- Santander
It’s worth noting that setting up pre-approved transfer limits may be subject to more friction than a single payment. For example, you may require a card reader to set up these limits. We believe that this additional friction is offset by the significant reduction in friction provided by this feature.
Feedback 
We’re releasing to Labs for the moment and so the feature isn’t fully polished. Any feedback is very much appreciated and will be considered for full launch. We’d be interested to hear about your experience of setting up limits with other banks, what you think of the feature journey, and any other tweaks that you think will make a difference.
Feel free to drop feedback in the comments below.
Thanks 
Thanks in advance for trying out the feature. We’ve been working hard to bring this to you as soon as possible so we hope you find it useful.
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