London
Among Britain’s digital app-based banks that are attracting moneyed urban millennials is Monese, which also courts customers neglected by the country’s established lenders. In early 2000, Estonia-born entrepreneur Norris Koppel arrived in Britain and spotted a major gap in UK banking for newly-arrived foreigners who had trouble opening traditional accounts. Koppel was snubbed by banks owing to a lack of address documents and no credit history — and vowed to help those in a similar predicament. In the nation’s booming financial technology or fintech sector, mobile phone app-based “neo-banks” such as Revolut, Monzo and Starling have established themselves as plucky upstarts. Koppel’s lender Monese joined them, expanding to 31 nations in Europe with two million customers in only five years of operation. “Investor trust in Fintechs and the amount of investment being poured into neo-banks is actually very significant; it hasn’t really slowed down. 2019 was definitely a peak point so let’s see how 2020 goes,” Koppel told AFP. “It’s very clear that banking is going through fundamental changes .. and there are a group of neo-banks including Monese who are on top of that wave.”—AFP
