Reports from CNN London on Thursday said that Britain’s fast-growing digital financial service, Monzo is coming to the United States.
Since its inception in 2015, Monzo has grown as a brand to become one of the top tech startups in the UK with a value of about 1.3 billion dollars, BBC records. This growth was owing to their attractive financial services that allow customers to make payments, direct deposits, and get instant spending notifications. Their signature neon bright contactless cards have served in bringing them to the front line of UK tech startups, according to CNET.
The company, on Thursday, announced their plans of launching their Los Angeles based shop this summer as well as events in other US cities, CNN reported.
In Britain, Monzo has offered digital banking experiences that exceeded expectation. Their contactless cards and offerings have made the brand an excellent choice for young professionals; Alessandro Hatami, the managing partner at Pacemakers, observed.

Image by Yannick McCabe-Costa

Challenges in the United States

The British regulatory bodies have been known to be friendly to tech startups so, Monzo has leveraged on that benefit during its rise in the UK, Hatami explained.
Irrespective of the excellent customer experience offered in the UK, their chances of surviving in the highly challenging United States marketing is not a sure thing. According to CNN Business, “navigating fintech regulation is much harder in America than in much of Europe, since companies have to gain approvals state by state.”
Since the United States public is not as conversant with spending the same way that their UK counterparts are, the company is working to adjust their suite of service offerings to fit in for its target US customers. According to reviews by CNET, the company is not looking to replicate the same services offered in the UK when it launches in L.A, although a lighter, first version of “Monzo will provide US customers with some existing features, including instant spending notifications, person-to-person payments, pots to split the savings from spending money and fee-free spending abroad.” More can be welcomed from there.

Competition against Apple, Amazon, PayPal, and others

Monzo coming into the United States this summer will pose a threat on the new Apple credit cards and PayPal, which are digital financial service providers with a name in the United States. The broad, growing market of digital financial services in the US has no dominating player. The chances may be slim for any new startup venturing into the US because they will have to contend with major financial institutions, including PayPal, the new Apple financial services, the US financial giants JP MorganChase, and Amazon.com that have clearly shown its keen interest in the financial services; as reported by CNN.
Although Monzo is yet to get an operating license as an official bank of the United States, it is working closely with a partner bank to make sure that your money is protected, CNET reported. “[…the] company is partnering with the Ohio-based Sutton Bank, which is overseen by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,” CNN wrote on Thursday.

Read also: Amazon Launches a Credit Card for People Who Otherwise Wouldn’t be Eligible for One