UK-based fintech Monzo said in a statement and a notice to customers seen by Banking Dive that it is closing its US operations and accounts, laying off about 50 employees and halting new onboarding for US customers. Existing US users can access their accounts through June, a company representative told Bloomberg. Monzo cited in its statement that it received a full banking license from the European Central Bank and the Central Bank of Ireland in December.
“With a fast-growing customer base of 15 million in the UK and the growth opportunity our European banking licence creates, we’re making a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on scaling in our home market and Europe and to step away from the US,” the company said.
The move changes the strategies of several of Monzo’s competitors, such as Revolut, Nubank and Bunq, which are all international platforms that have also applied for US banking licenses amid a perceived loosening of rules and an increase in charter applications.
Revolut applied for a US banking charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last month and has full license approval in the UK. Brazilian digital bank Nubank received conditional approval for an OCC charter in January.
In January, Bunq re-applied for an OCC charter, which it had initially applied for in 2023 but withdrew its paperwork after a 301-day wait.
Monzo also applied for a US banking license in April 2020, but like Bunq, it withdrew its application after 17 months, finding that the OCC likely would not approve it. Monzo did not abandon the US market, however. It appointed a new US CEO in 2023, a Cash App alum.
“We know this isn’t the news you were hoping for, and we’re really sorry. We’re incredibly grateful you chose us for digital banking,” the company wrote to its US users.