Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#31

Post by shawabawa3 » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:02 AM UTC

randomvectors wrote: post #14

RickS wrote: post #6

I'm very hopeful for Monzo, with some caveats. They have a lot of fascinating and useful DNA having gotten started in the UK before the US. The UK's regulatory environment for digital banking is leagues ahead of America's, w/r/t data access, APIs, etc. If they can persist UK style data features through their American rollout, they'll have something no other American bank currently offers. While my strong suspicion is…

This is where they actually bring value right? - Delivering a good banking product outside of the UK. Because as a UK customer I see no reason to switch after trying Monzo for a couple of months. Positives: - a nicer mobile banking app Negatives: - no credit cards and no option to top up using a credit card from another bank - no physical branches Everything else is comparable to most other banks in the UK. Which isn…

> - no physical branches

Massive positive for me. I've never had a good experience going to a physical bank branch (if they're ever even open), and now I'll never have to go again

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#32

Post by tim333 » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:03 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #12

The UK bank space could do with some fresh players. Currently I'm looking for a new bank for my business, because: 1) I need to have foreign currency accounts. My bank has them, but I'm unable to see the accounts when I log in. They've known about this for 4 months now, and I keep getting sent in circles by the Indian call centre. They've sent me to branch twice, with no coordination, the people in the branch can't h…

I use TransferWise and they seem to me to be a real bank account. People use my name and the local bank details for the country you choose. (I've used UK, Ausi and NZ accounts).

I'm not sure they do company accounts though.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#33

Post by benj111 » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:03 AM UTC

jhuckestein wrote: post #18

benj111 wrote: post #4

What's it's plan for making money. As I understood it current (checking) accounts don't really make any money, they're just used as loss leaders to lure in customers.

hey, i work at monzo we're currently making money from interest charged on loans that we make to our customers, from interest that the central bank pays us on our deposits, as well as from interchange that we earn when our cards are used. this is what most banks do (except they also make lots of money from fees that we don't have) there are several other ways we'll make money and we just started experimenting with a…

Thanks for your reply.

Are your financial reports a legal requirement or part of a more open business approach.

Anyway its good that you feel you're earning 'enough' money from your current activities.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#34

Post by silasdavis » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:03 AM UTC

obeattie wrote: post #27

dazbradbury wrote: post #20

Big congrats to Monzo, and I can't wait to see what their marketplace looks like when it's finally fleshed out. What's the state of account switching in the US? I'd have thought a big part of Monzo's strength in the UK is the mandated account switching service: https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/ Is there an equivalent system in the US to reduce the friction of switching banks?

I don't think an equivalent of the Current Account Switch Service exists in the US, which is a shame. But I don't think this is crucial. We had around 5,500 switches via the Current Account Switch Service in May, but added around 200,000 new customers.

It's unfortunate that the fully automated service requires you to close your the source account completely when switching. I was about to push the button on getting my salary paid into my monzo account but a diversity of current accounts has its uses.

I think the justification for only providing switch and close was that it was the only way to reliably avoid double payments IIRC. Personally I would have taken that risk and resolved them manually if necessary.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#35

Post by maccard » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:04 AM UTC

randomvectors wrote: post #14

RickS wrote: post #6

I'm very hopeful for Monzo, with some caveats. They have a lot of fascinating and useful DNA having gotten started in the UK before the US. The UK's regulatory environment for digital banking is leagues ahead of America's, w/r/t data access, APIs, etc. If they can persist UK style data features through their American rollout, they'll have something no other American bank currently offers. While my strong suspicion is…

This is where they actually bring value right? - Delivering a good banking product outside of the UK. Because as a UK customer I see no reason to switch after trying Monzo for a couple of months. Positives: - a nicer mobile banking app Negatives: - no credit cards and no option to top up using a credit card from another bank - no physical branches Everything else is comparable to most other banks in the UK. Which isn…

> no option to top up using a credit card from another bank

Can you top up your HSBC account with a credit card from another bank? A Monzo account is just another bank account.

> no physical branches

Is this really a con? Last time I visited a branch (Nationwide), I was told to just go online and fill in the forms. Monzo let you deposit cash and cheques at the post office - my post office has better opening hours, shorter queues, and there are more of them than branches of my specific bank.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#36

Post by astannard » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:04 AM UTC

I do like Monzo, they are one of the few startups I have invested in. I tend to personally use them for my fun money and still use my long time bank for paying the bills and getting my wages etc I transfer my monthly spending money to Monzo and when that runs out the fun stops.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#37

Post by bleigh0 » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:04 AM UTC

Congrats to Tom and the Monzo team. I've had an account since the days of 'Mondo', and the focus on user experience and trust has endured (and if anything maybe increased).

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#38

Post by raesene9 » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:05 AM UTC

greysteil wrote: post #11

benj111 wrote: post #4

What's it's plan for making money. As I understood it current (checking) accounts don't really make any money, they're just used as loss leaders to lure in customers.

They're a bank. Banks have been profitable for hundreds of years. It's not the business model that's being innovated here, it's the execution.

yeah the question is though, can retail banking be profitable enough to satisfy VC like return levels...

Retail banking whilst profitable (if done right) isn't wildly profitable, so the only way to rapidly ramp overall profits is to expand the customer base very rapidly, which is difficult as each new market you enter has different regulatory setups which require time/money to adapt to.

Also customers (even in countries with good bank transfer laws) are not that mobile in their banking requirements (in many cases), so growing quickly enough can be tricky.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#39

Post by Liquid_Fire » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:07 AM UTC

randomvectors wrote: post #14

RickS wrote: post #6

I'm very hopeful for Monzo, with some caveats. They have a lot of fascinating and useful DNA having gotten started in the UK before the US. The UK's regulatory environment for digital banking is leagues ahead of America's, w/r/t data access, APIs, etc. If they can persist UK style data features through their American rollout, they'll have something no other American bank currently offers. While my strong suspicion is…

This is where they actually bring value right? - Delivering a good banking product outside of the UK. Because as a UK customer I see no reason to switch after trying Monzo for a couple of months. Positives: - a nicer mobile banking app Negatives: - no credit cards and no option to top up using a credit card from another bank - no physical branches Everything else is comparable to most other banks in the UK. Which isn…

For me the killer feature is foreign currency transactions with no fees at the MasterCard exchange rate, both online and abroad. My "traditional" bank charges me a flat fee and a percentage for any transactions in other currencies.

Re: Y Combinator invests in Monzo through its Continuity Fund

#40

Post by dazc » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 9:09 AM UTC

randomvectors wrote: post #14

RickS wrote: post #6

I'm very hopeful for Monzo, with some caveats. They have a lot of fascinating and useful DNA having gotten started in the UK before the US. The UK's regulatory environment for digital banking is leagues ahead of America's, w/r/t data access, APIs, etc. If they can persist UK style data features through their American rollout, they'll have something no other American bank currently offers. While my strong suspicion is…

This is where they actually bring value right? - Delivering a good banking product outside of the UK. Because as a UK customer I see no reason to switch after trying Monzo for a couple of months. Positives: - a nicer mobile banking app Negatives: - no credit cards and no option to top up using a credit card from another bank - no physical branches Everything else is comparable to most other banks in the UK. Which isn…

I agree, Monzo is great for small transactions and travelling but I'm not rushing to switch from Barclays as my main bank.