022: A premium distinction
Monzo plusses Plus and Revolut beats the market
Welcome to Neobanked, a newsletter focused on the quickly evolving UK digital banking market. I hope to gather enough interesting tidbits and news to share this every two weeks.
For me, Neobanks are digital-only offerings that apply internet economics (i.e. zero marginal costs) to the banking sector. My focus will be on companies such as Monzo, Revolut, and Starling.
Through this newsletter I hope to cover each of these companies as they continue to grow within the UK and beyond. Some of the regular features will include user number growth, new product/feature releases, and links to relevant interviews and analysis.
News this week
Revolut launches 5% savings rate in US (with a catch)
The market-leading rate is payable only on the amount spent by the user in the previous month, a move designed to encourage primary use of Revolut accounts. In addition, the very highest rates are only applicable to paid for tiers of the Revolut proposition.
A look inside Monzo and the new leadership
The last few months have been tough for Monzo and, amidst all of it, they made significant changes to their leadership. Sifted spoke with the top 11 Monzonauts to get their perspectives.
New and upcoming feature releases
Monzo Premium launches at £15 per month
The new premium account brings Monzo to six current account variants. Premium users get all the benefits of Plus (credit tracking, product discounts, custom categories) with the addition of: travel insurance, phone insurance, discount airport lounge access, 1.5% interest up to £2,000, and a metal card.
It’s been a quiet few weeks after the crazy summer. It feels like Monzo has now arrived at a place where they can be happy with the paid for tiers and initial reactions are on-the-whole positive. Starling and Revolut have long had these types of propositions and, as a result, seen stronger financial results. Lending and credit remain a gap for each (Revolut is the only one to confirm future products in this space); perhaps we’ll see more in this space as the core businesses mature and growth plateaus.