Image: Monzo
The company’s group CEO said Ireland will act as a ‘gateway to European markets’.
UK neobank Monzo has announced its first full year of profitability and has set its sights on Ireland as the location for its EU base.
The Revolut rival, which was launched in 2015, reported a pre-tax profit of £15.4m from March 2023 to March 2024 compared with a pre-tax loss of £116.3m for the previous 12 months.
The company’s gross revenue for the full year climbed from £355m in 2023 to £880m this year, while customer deposits grew almost 90pc, from £6bn to £11.2bn.
Amid the surge in profits, group chief executive officer TS Anil said the company’s ambition goes beyond the UK border and plans to expand to Ireland. “We believe every part of the world needs a Monzo so we’re focused on expanding our offering, building strategies to disrupt the US with a first-class leadership team in place,” he said.
“In Europe, Ireland will act as our gateway to European markets and we’re in the early stages of setting up an Irish office.”
The news follows a successful first few months in 2024 for Monzo. The digital bank raised £340m in March of this year led by CapitalG, bringing the company’s value to £4bn. It then scored another £150m at the beginning of May.
While Monzo is one of the main digital banks in the UK, it has been planning expansion further afield for a while now, particularly in the US. It first attempted to enter the US market in 2019, only to withdraw its banking licence application two years later after not getting approval.
Late last year, the bank appointed Irish executive Conor Walsh as CEO of its US business, with Anil saying at the time that Walsh brings “the perfect mix of skills” to lead the team as Monzo expands in the US.
The latest annual financial report highlights its plans for expansion across Europe too, with Ireland picked out as “the destination for our EU base”.
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