We’re Building Monzo into a Marketplace

About the insurance part I hope monzo introduce packages like nationwide and Halifax do for a monthly fee rather then just offering ‘10% off travel insurance if you buy through monzo’ etc

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Thanks, @valerio but Overdraft and 3rd party offers are just completely separate things IMO. This is not a good logical comparison.
Overdraft will be offered by Monzo it’s not like you would offer a loan option with-in app from a 3rd party. If overdraft is like a 3rd party loan then yes you can compare other 3rd party ‘money saving’ offers.

You are right and it’s a perfectly valid argument but what I am concerned is that even if I had opted out of seeing offers there will still be offers on my transaction details (at least that’s what I understand from @valerio’s post) So for example I am with Bulb at the moment and if I go to bulb DD details in-app there could be an offer from Monzo saying you could save by switching to Tube Light

Hmmm. I read it as a ‘Switch Energy Provider’ button may be in the details screen that would take you to an offer if you were interested enough to press it. That is much closer to the ‘Overdraft’ analogy.

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Yes, I might be reading too much into this. We just have to wait and see and I am willing to wait for at least a year for Monzo to have more stuff in place and polish current features. I just wouldn’t want to see names and logos from 3rd parties anywhere in-app if I had opted-out but a button/link/tab to say like “Switch Energy supplier” I am fine with that.

Hey Geoff, just wanted to clarify what it is that makes you sad about the path Monzo is going down. Is it notifications in the feed/app, or the fact that they will be analysing your data? The reason I ask is because it’s been stated a couple of times that you can completely opt-out of the notifications/offers. And if analysing your data concerns you, you might want to ask questions of any other bank you do business with. I don’t think it’s a safe assumption that because they don’t talk about analysing your spending data, they’re not doing it (in fact, I assume that all of them are).

I guess what I’m trying to point out is that if you have generally been happy with Monzo, you might want to hold tight, opt-out of marketing/offers, and see where this goes. You might find that you get what you’re looking for.

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I’m reluctant to open up a can of worms, but here we go. To be honest, my concern has less to do with Monzo specifically, and more to do with the general trend of things moving from paid products to services supported by ads/sponsored content/suggestions/offers (or whatever other term is applicable). I really would prefer not to see another industry go down that path. Even if Monzo’s implementation is less obnoxious and more user-friendly than others, it’s just not a business model I want to support. Similarly, an opt-out doesn’t change much for me, as I’d rather support a business that was sustainable without relying on this as a primary source of income. If they introduced a fee, I’d happily pay it if they had the best product.

I’ve stopped using Monzo for now anyway, mostly because I can’t top up with a debit card at the moment (I didn’t think I’d miss this feature when I upgraded, but turns out I did), but I’ll keep the account open, and will probably give it another go in six months or so and see what it’s like. Their customer service, UX design and software quality are all stellar, which is why it makes me sad that they have a business model I disagree with.

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you cant please all the people all the time , hopefully you might come back once you see whats actually on offer (or not offered :slight_smile: as the case may be :slight_smile: )

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Thanks, interesting reply, I was genuinely interested in your reasons. I completely agree with your concerns about ‘free’ products that are paid for via advertising and selling data.

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Saw this reply to a similar conversation, and 100% agree:

I’m not attracted by any business that go above and beyond to assure me that they’re not making money from me. I’m not a charity case, when I purchase a service I expect it to be a mutually beneficial transaction. If it’s not then one of us is being screwed, and I’m not stupid enough to be certain it’s not me.

Monzo’s transparency in saying what’s in it for them, and for us is really good, but I’d hate for the platform to become an ad-fest. Even platforms like Instagram become unenjoyable because of the invasive ads in your timeline.

However. Ad platforms in social media apps are trying to sell you things (without thinking of your needs) if Monzo offer genuine money-saving offers without catches, I’d switch more often than not to make my money go further and support Monzo - just my two cents, of course.

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If they did- I would close down my current account and switch.

Indeed - this reminds me of trying to book a flight with Ryanair and trying to avoid page after page of insurance hotels and car hire. If I want those things I know where to get them.

I think monzo needs to be careful here in how these adverts are integrated into the app to avoid feeling like you have to be careful not to accidentally buy into something you don’t want.

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I like the idea, particularly if it can gently push some users to make better choices. E.g. I never thought to change energy providers until a couple of months ago, then realised I could actually save money by switching to renewable energy. The key would be making them unintrusive and relevant as mentioned in the blog - with my Lloyds current account i get all sorts of irrelevant ‘offers’ that clutter my transaction feed.

I’d be interested to see how the ISA management would work. I wouldn’t want to change ISA provider, so it would depend whether you can only select from a couple of Monzo-compatible providers, or whether it’s a truly open setup.

One thing worth having in the marketplace is the ability to order foreign currency, particularly now cash machine withdrawals are now subject to a fee

I’ve had a few discussiosns with builders of Personal Money Management apps - some are trying to link bank accounts, mortgage accounts and investment accounts etc. But not to the extent of building a marketplace - their main focus is to make you understand how money is spent etc. I would say currently the apps are ok - nothing special.

So the gist of my ramblings with them were as follows:
Firstly - what I need is ability to see a complete money life cycle and current total net worth app and not just account balances.
This includes the usual incomes, expenses, current prices of investments, current value of assets and status of borrowings (and lending) etc. I explained that assets such as homes have multiple Linked elements - since most are through borrowing. So need to be able to separate down payments, capital, interest and additional payments, rent incomes and be able to add current selling price to correctly know the asset value. other assets such as art, wines and collectables needs periodic valuation.
Investment types should include stocks, mutual funds, pensions, term insurance products, crypto exchanges, leveraged assets etc. I explained that some insurance products have end of term of term benefits so are not just expenses. Similarly life assurance may have end of life benefits.

So basically the above would continuously calculate my net worth. This can then be linked to a Living Will & Testament with executor, next of kin details etc. You could potentially also link it to pre-nuptials.

The second part was how to make money, how to save money, how to budget properly. Since I have added accounts, categories, and sub categories to my personal money manager the Budgetting process should be Intelligent and not just based on weekly / monthly spend patterns. In addition I should be able to slice and dice options to see impact of spending, income, borrowing etc.

The third part was about linking some accounts or sub accounts so that they are shared. If I buy a house with someone then incomes, expenses are shared plus the asset belongs partly belongs to them - so a percentage split would be nice. At a simpler level, if I pay for dinner and someone owes money - they should be able to see their balance and how that balance was arrived at in my account. If they have same app then this account/sub account could be shared. Similarly if you’re sharing a flat, then knowing who bought what would be easy with this facility.

Having said all that. The reason I’ve added this here is because I think marketplaces, bank accounts, investments and money managers are all linked. Each give a difference perspective.

So for me, adverts (paid or otherwise) is not the problem. Knowing what I need, what will make me money, what will save me money and how I can manage money is the key. Marketplaces are one way of allowing me to research and purchase. I remember people were saying similar things about aggregators (comparison sites) and now they are a tool for saving money. Btw, the aggregators make money in a similar way.

Anyway this is my view of things …

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whens the market place likely to kick off?
once there is savings account on offer through there, Monzo will be the only banking app I need

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@Lewisoc According to the roadmap, https://trello.com/b/9tcaMB4w/monzo-transparent-product-roadmap

About 6-12 month away :slight_smile: although its possible we will start to see this roll out sooner now development is speeding up :slight_smile:

I’m looking forward to it as well :slight_smile:

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I know ISAs are a little way off yet, but I would love to see a Lifetime ISA included in available options. It’s actually very hard to find Cash LISAs about

Wealthify may make a good partner for the marketplace

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@philhewinson
I was wondering if you would potentially be adding “Pensionbee”? Pensions are a massive part of financial life & Starling Bank have included them in their marketplace.