It bills itself as a banking service for migrants and anyone else who finds it difficult to open a bank account. And it claims that someone who has literally just arrived in Britain can open an account in less than three minutes, before they have even collected their baggage from the carousel.
Monese is one of a growing number of mainly smartphone-based services hoping to revolutionise banking – particularly when it comes to the millions of people that the traditional banks don’t want or struggle to cater for, such as those who can’t provide proof of a UK address or have a poor credit history.
Monese, which is due to go live in the UK on Monday, is targeting “unbanked, expat and immigrant consumers” and will be competing with similar services such as Ffrees, which claims to have opened more than 60,000 accounts.
Meanwhile, the next few months will see a clutch of new-style digital banks open their doors. Yesterday Fidor Bank, an online-only challenger bank from Germany, launched in the UK. Its initial products include a range of fixed-rate savings bonds paying between 0.75% and 2.1%. However, Monese and Ffrees are different because they are not actually banks, but both offer what are, to all intents and purposes, current accounts –albeit with some restrictions.
With both, you can pay in your salary/pension etc, withdraw cash from ATMs, pay for items using a Visa debit card, and pay bills. Monese says the ability to set up standing orders and direct debits will be available very soon (you can already set up standing orders with Ffrees, with direct debits on the way). In both cases there are no overdrafts or credit cards, and no credit checks. But there are some strings attached.
With Monese, the account, the debit card and its money management app are all free. Customers get five credits each month which can be used to make free transactions (ATM withdrawals, bank transfers etc). Once customers use up their credits, Monese will charge 50p on all transactions, though using your debit card in a shop will always be free.
Meanwhile, Ffrees gives customers a choice between no monthly fee and pay-as-you-go charges (eg, 75p for an ATM withdrawal, 15p for using your card to buy something), or a range of monthly fees – the maximum is £10 – and lower, or no, transaction charges.
