Hopefully TransferWise will be able to integrate with Monzo soon!
Monzo will soon be bringing international transfers, so why would we need TransferWise, am I missing something?
Depends if they are going it alone or having an integration in app with a 3rd party provider for the international payments. Although theyāve said theyāll give us an IBAN so suggests the first
This will be another chapter in the book Making Monzo (probably chapter 3 after the the story of the Monzo split from Starling, and what the history of 
Pay really was).
I think that Monzo was also trailing working with TransferWise at one point (or am I mistaken?) Assuming that international payments arenāt an integration of the Borderless Account into the Monzo app (fascinating ideaā¦ 
), I wonder whether Monzling* had unreasonable expectations on the commercials (seems odd given thatās two different banks) or whether TransferWise was always eyeing the (borderless) account business and looking to cut out the digibank brigade?
The answer is almost certainly nuanced and not an either/or - nor will we (tell-all book not withstanding) ever know - but I wonder when TransferWiseās agreement with N26 ends - and what happens thenā¦ That might be instructive!
*Iām so very sorry
Starling is looking well-placed to win the Ā£120 million āPool Aā grant, which is being decided by an independent panel ā not least if the fund is to meet its remit of genuinely increasing competition within SME banking.
I found this part on the Capability and Innovation Fund 
rather interesting too.
As you know, Starling is all about customer service
This quote from Anne in that article made me laugh, my experiences with Starlingās customer service reps have always been just as bad as a legacy bank.
Agreed, seems the response she gave was a generic corporate response trying to plug the marketplace, their demand and customer service, and didnāt actually have anything specific to say.
I find that last sentence particularly strange. Firstly because customer service is brought up out of nowhere. And secondly because she says āAs you knowā to the reporter, but itās obvious targetting at prospective users, which wouldnāt know that. Some sort of suggestive mind game.
I actually found the article itself somewhat strange, as much hasnāt really happened. They havenāt raised the money yet, theyāre just saying theyāre looking for investment, and the rest of the article is about a partnership with TransferWise ending, but apparently it never started?
I like how user numbers are still not mentioned
Yes, that was exactly my feeling as well. Itās a big article about ā¦ nothing?
I get that itās very interesting that the partnership has been ended, and that itās worth reporting on. But somehow I feel that the article went on and on without really saying anything of substance ā¦
maybe Starling are prepping for a crowdfunding round to share the love 
Starlingās foreign transfer service is laughable. They have about 5 currencies and they failed to inform people that when using swift itās possible that 3rd parties will take their cut.
It is crazy you canāt specify if you want MT103 field 71A for charges to be BEN, SHA or OUR! With a legacy bank I can specifically stipulate how I want any charges accounted for, and would assume a fintech to offer the same.
Starling seem to send SWIFT transfers with code SHA (if some of tbe incidences reported by customers are true) rather than OUR! I would not use it if this is the case.
However, payments sent via local partners (which includes SCT and SCTinst payments) do seem to be OUR not SHA.
They certainly pulled the wool over peopleās eyes whether intentionally or otherwise. As you say, if you use a local partner (and Iām not sure why you wouldnāt when itās Ā£5.20 cheaper than swift) the recipient does get the same amount. Some of the currencies only have swift as an option and I donāt know why anybody would use Starling in that instance.
I prefer to stick to Monese or Azimo where I know what is arriving the other end!
If I sent a payment by Starling to pay an invoice or a property rental and the money arrived ā¬35 short so I then sent the ā¬35 only to find ā¬30 arrivesā¦you just canāt bank like that! With FX you need certainty not a gamble
Itās interesting that since setting out to raise Ā£40m last year theyāve actually not announced the progress of that round - I can only assume itās going well as they set to push for more. The stories around their RBS Innovation Fund seem a little āinflatedā - how someone can be so sure that theyāre up there to win the Ā£120m pot, when theyāre up against some pretty stiff incumbent opposition Iām not entirely sure?
On the other hand - if they win, and get this round closed off, weāre looking at Ā£200m for Starling to play with come the end of the year, perhaps theyāre setting themselves up to give Revolut a run for their money overseas! Tbhā¦ with the right funding behind them, Iād back them! Time will tellā¦
I think because some politicians have already stated it is an unfair playing field witb big high street banks owned by large foreign banks (e.g. TSB) up against small newcomers like Starling, and they expect them to get a sizable chunk of funds before giving any to longerstanding banks. Not sure how much influence the politicos will have though!