Monzo eye business banking opportunity

Monzo is planning to open a business bank account, adding to the growing list of contenders for dole outs from the Royal Bank of Scotland bail-out fund, according to finextra.com. RBS was directed by the government and the European Commission to set up two funds worth a combined £775 million following its £45.5 billion bailout during the financial crisis.

The funding has become a source of contention among challenger banks who have complained that the Government has set the bar for applications too low, enabling bigger banks such as Santander, Clydesdale and TSB to be eligible for a piece of the pie.

Monzo now joins Starling Bank and Nationwide who have already confirmed their intention to apply for a slice of the £445 million of funding that was earmarked for challenger banks pushing into the business banking market.

Monzo has so far signed up over one million customers to its app-based current account service and says the move into business banking is a natural extension to the range of services available to personal customers who also double up as entrepreneurs, sole traders, freelancers and small business owners.

Despite recently banking £85 million in new funding, the sooner-rather-than-later arrival of Monzo’s business bank account is reliant on a hand out from the RBS remedies fund.

„If we’re successful, that money will give us the resources we need to make business banking a priority, and hopefully launch something in the next year or two,” says operations analyst Jordan Shwide. „If we don’t get the funding, we’ll still build business accounts. It’ll just take a little longer.”