In March, the senior management team at Monzo and board volunteered to take a 25% cut in salary and hundreds of employees have been furloughed. The company has closed one office overseas, although it said it would continue to invest in governance and fighting financial crime. Image source: Image of TS Anil, provided by Monzo. Despite the 40 percent discount from the company’s previous value, Anil said fundraising of any kind during the pandemic was cause for acclaim.He also said he is confident in the company’s cost-cutting measures since the pandemic began, according to FT. The bank has also postponed the launch of premium paid-for consumer accounts, one of only a handful of known planned revenue streams, alongside lending, of course.With that said, it’s not all been bad news. More than five years after starting the company, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield is stepping down as CEO of the U.K. challenger bank to take up the newly created role of president. Monzo has beefed up its offensive on the US market with the appointment of its first dedicated CEO to oversee its operations across the Atlantic.. TS Anil is taking up the new role at Monzo joining from Visa, where he was latterly Global Head of Products and Platforms at the US financial services company. “And I went through all the stuff that drains me, and it’s all the stuff I’ve done in the last two years, honestly. Name - Telephone - Email Address (Click on the blue text): Website (www) - Telephone - Fax -Twitter - Facebook - YouTube - Google Map - Customer Services (CS) - Human Resources (HR) - Press (PR) - Investor Relations (IR) - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Numbers: Notes: Reference: 0800 Repair Limited: 0800 Repair Limited CEO, Mr S Pallister - Email address and Phone number Monzo Bank's President is Tom Blomfield. Things I think TS is awesome at.”Although it is unlikely that a huge amount will change immediately, Blomfield says he hopes that he’ll be able to spend a “bunch more time doing the stuff I really, really love, which is community, talking to customers, helping develop the product proposition, long-term vision, and talking to journalists, like you Steve, obviously, and try to unwind my involvement a little bit in more formal regulated banking activities.”Meanwhile, it has been somewhat of a turbulent time for Monzo in recent months, as it, along with many other fintech companies, has attempted to insulate itself from the coronavirus crisis and resulting economic downturn.Last month, I reported that Monzo was shuttering its customer support office in Las Vegas, Like other banks and fintechs, the coronavirus crisis has resulted in Monzo seeing customer card spend reduce at home and (of course) abroad, meaning it is generating significantly less revenue from interchange fees. The CEO of Monzo has announced that he will forego his salary for 12 months and furlough staff amid rumours circulating on social media that the app-based bank is on the verge of collapse. While that’s a great opportunity for providers, it also presents a challenge — 27.4 million consumers are looking to cancel their subscriptions because of friction and cost concerns. Meanwhile, Anil — and, in the future, other country-specific CEOs — can do the day to day, more regulated aspects of running a bank.In a brief call with Blomfield just moments ago, he told me he had been thinking about a transition into a different role for about 18 months, but it wasn’t until much more recently that a formal decision was taken.“I went through all the stuff I love about my job, and it was all the stuff I did in the first two or three years,” he said. Anil previously held exec roles at Visa, Standard Chartered Bank and Citi, and therefore brings a ton of banking and financial services experience. He pointed to new services like business and premium accounts as ways Monzo would be able to weather the pandemic and still come out solvent.The company opened over 36,000 business accounts since March and re-instituted a 5 pounds ($6.55) a month “Monzo Plus” account option, which has had higher-than-expected sign-up numbers, FT reported.The company has been hit hard by the pandemic, with the drop in overseas travel causing it to lose the main source of its revenue in the transaction fees generated when one pays with a Monzo card, according to FT.Monzo cut 120 jobs in response in order to stay afloat, Anil was appointed to the job from his old Visa position late last year. The company has more measures up its sleeve, although Anil said he didn’t think further job cuts would be involved.Staying home 24/7 has consumers turning to subscription services for both entertainment and their day-to-day needs. Tom Blomfield is no ordinary bank CEO. Other executives include TS Anil, CEO; Sujata Bhatia, COO. See the full leadership team at Craft. In the latest Sign up for the PYMNTS.com Newsletter to get updates on top stories and viral hits.Subscription Commerce Conversion Index – July 2020 Monzo recently And, hopefully, in his new role as president, Blomfield will sound re-energised next time I call him. Monzo has seen customer card spend reduce at home and abroad, while new account signups have also slowed during the pandemic.
He pointed to the company’s recent 58 million-pound ($76 million) funding round last month as a reason for the group’s viability, FT reported. Anil maintained that the group, while suffering through the pandemic, nevertheless had a solid foundation on which to survive, according to FT.
But then Monzo is no ordinary bank. Monzo CEO TS Anil said he hopes the U.K. company's new features, such as business and premium accounts, will help it weather the pandemic and come out solvent.
Fintech challenger bank Monzo announced that its losses ballooned to £115.4 million ($151 million) in 2019 — twice that of 2018.