It’s good to see that other customers have the same questions as me about Monzo’s ethics. Like others on this thread, I’m only willing to consider using Monzo as my primary bank account if I have ongoing reassurance about this aspect of the service.
Unlike traditional/established banks, Monzo is highly likely to be currently operating at a substantial loss (perhaps losing as much as £50 per customer per year) and so ongoing development is investor-funded.
Along with customers who have participated in crowdfunding, there are major venture capital shareholders, especially following the recent huge investment round.
I have faith that customer shareholders will continue steering Monzo in the right ethical direction, but what the VC investors want is likely to have a large impact on ethics (VCs hardly have the greatest reputation for putting ethics first).
This thread and this thread talk about Monzo’s likely revenue streams, with the most viable route to profitability being overdraft fees, depending on how well the (so far unproven) plans for affiliate partnerships develop (earning a share of “interchange” merchant card fees may also be a viable route to profitability at high volumes, though it’s unclear whether this is a current revenue stream or not).
Nothing above seems incompatible with a broadly ethical banking proposition (charging overdraft fees to individuals is way better than profiting from investment banking in the arms trade).
I hope that the ethics and values page can be updated soon because it is currently very short and lacking in detail. I would love it if it could cover the following:
- No oil and gas investments (including fracking) because of climate change and the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground
- No arms trade investment (because war is bad)
- Something about payday lending given the potential for a Wonga-style scandal
Given how much of a voice the customer community has at Monzo, and how refreshing this is compared to other banks, I’m quite close to switching to Monzo as my primary account. But I do need some reassurance about the above points, especially because I am suspicious of the motives of the VCs and the potential for their desire for a financial return to trump ethical commitments.