Freetrade have never tried to make money from PFOF and are on track to break even end of this year. I think now that they’re charging for most accounts they are on a much more solid footing.
I agree though for monzo a better focus would be rebranded investment accounts - they could IMO do well with a simple S&S ISA pot hosted elsewhere under the hood with a slick UI and simple regular investing settings until they’re ready to do it themselves, just as they have done with savings accounts.
I really liked Flux, even if it wasn’t really featured much in my own account, but the idea of taking a photo of a receipt feels kind of archaic in 2023…
I might get some slack for this, but Splitwise…
Since bill splitting with people not on Monzo still kinda sucks.
Maybe an entity like ‘InvestEngine’ which offers GIAs and ISAs based solely on Exchange Traded Funds - a low-cost investment platform, slightly less risky than dabbling in individual companies.
Acquire some index tracking funds, and then provide them at near cost in the app.
I wish they would do what starling did - acquire mortgage, loans, credit card books and run those down. Without necessarily migrating them into Monzo systems. As a way to differentiate and use their deposits for lending basically.
Potentially down the line integrate those into Monzo, but that is optional. Existing systems should be ok to operate in a hands off approach.
If you look at the history of Monzo and Starling, that is somewhat against Monzo’s whole ethos. The early Monzo staff worked with Anne Boden on Starling. She wanted to use the licence to white-label other software, rather than building things properly from the ground up. There was a schism, with Monzo splittng off and taking a totally different approach. So while they could now of course change things up, I think that deep in their bones they prefer to build rather than buy.
It’s also independence from suppliers, be it what happened with GPS
It’s a nice idea, but with Monzo’s top team having entirely changed (with trad bankers now in charge) I’m not sure the original ethos holds any longer.
A main point was that Monzo wouldn’t hold large amounts in savings; now it’s paying a high interest rate on an own–brand savings account.
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