Monzo vs Revolut: Who Will Conquer Europe?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Okay, welcome back to another episode of Banking Without Borders. So, Monzo just launched in Europe, and the way they've done it is actually really smart. They started in Ireland back in April.

[00:00:08]>> Free accounts for all the family. You've waited long enough, Monzo.

[00:00:13]>> But Ireland isn't really the point. The real reason is that an Irish banking license gives them access to all 27 EU member states. And with that, they've already announced their next target, Spain, which is also a very deliberate choice because this market has already proven that digital banking works. And a stat that I find utterly astonishing is that one in three new bank accounts opened in Spain in the last 3 years were with Revolute. So Monzo isn't going somewhere that's untested. They're going somewhere that's already been cracked open. And Revolute, N26, Wise, Bunk, all of those banks are in their sights. So the question isn't really whether Europe is ready for this kind of bank or it's ready for another digital bank. I think that answer is clear. The question is can Monzo compete and what is their actual plan? But before we get into that, Yan, you spotted something very interesting about how Monzo Spain launch works and how it could potentially be illegal.

[00:01:08]>> Yeah, Johnny, um it could potentially be illegal, at least to our understanding.

[00:01:12]So, what Monzo has done is they've launched a weight list in Spain. And if you look at the requirements on their website, this seems to be only available to Spanish residents. But under EU law, my understanding is that they they can't afford that as a EU licensed bank.

[00:01:28]>> Interesting.

[00:01:28]>> I'd understand it that you would have to offer a basic account to any EU resident who applies, right? So whether they're they're based in Germany, whether they're based in France, as long as they don't hold a a bank account in that specific country. So in Spain in this example, Monzo would have to offer some sort of basic account. That's my understanding at least. It seems like they understand this slightly differently. Also, you've mentioned they've launched in Ireland. They did that actually last month in April 2026.

[00:01:55]And um if you look at the website, >> I can't find any information about uh about non-residents being able to open open up a basic account. And that could be could be yeah quite a dangerous topic for them. But, you know, time will tell whether they'll get actually get into trouble for that. Maybe we also understand this this requirement wrong.

[00:02:14]Um, I don't know. But, um, to me it's pretty obvious. And, um, yeah, that's really interesting. I think when we talk about the outlook for Monzo in Europe, it's really important to provide context on the behemoth of Europe in terms of digital banking, which is Revolute, and the product that they're offering or the set of features or the plans, the tiers.

[00:02:32]And I know a lot of people listening to this and watching this will be very familiar with Revolute, so I'll be quick here. But this is what Monzo are coming up against. So Revolute have a free tier. They have a an expensive tier and it goes all the way up to €55 a month depending where you are in the world.

[00:02:46]That might be 60. It might be 65. They offer so much. They've got a free local IBAN. You get fee free spending. You get fee free ATM withdrawals I believe up to €200. You know, you get fee free currency exchange up to €1,000. You get a savings account at 1.15% for the basic tier. You've got Rev points. You've got an app rich with features, crypto, stocks, rewards. It's everything you could ever envision. You've got eims.

[00:03:12]You've got probably mobile phone contracts coming to Europe at some point. There's a lot going on here. Yan, could you I don't think it's going to take you very long. Could you share with us what Monzo have at least what they're offering in Ireland?

[00:03:23]>> They've just I appreciate they haven't fully launched in Spain yet.

[00:03:26]>> They've just launched their free account. So, we we know Monzo offers typically the the free account, then they offer perks um and then they offer Max these these paid account with additional subscriptions. Um in Ireland that's not the case. They literally just launched a free account. It's a um it's a solid bank account though um which is arguably uh better than Revolute. Not arguably, it's clearly better than what Revolute provides in the standard tier.

[00:03:48]So, you get local local Irish IBAN. You get fee free spending abroad and they use the the Mastercard exchange rate.

[00:03:54]They do not use the Monzo rate as Revolute does with the Revolute rate where there's a a markup um somehow included. So that's it's a better travel card.

[00:04:02]>> Yes. Good.

[00:04:03]>> And then you get an you get €300 in fee free ATM withdrawal every 30 days. So that's a 100 more than Revolute provides. After that's a 2.5% fee on the instant access savings account get 1.6% AER while Revolute Standard provides 1.15%.

[00:04:19]So that's better. And then you get this this really intuitive and amazing app, right?

[00:04:24]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It is.

[00:04:26]>> Which is which feels a lot less cluttered than what Revolute has to has to offer. But what you don't get is, you know, these additional things that Revolute is known for. Stock trading, eims, insurance, these kind of things, right? You can't access that within within Monzo yet. Um, and you also don't have any any sort of subscription upgrade available, right? But who knows, maybe that will come. But for now, I think their strategy is be launching a really really good basic bank account within Europe, within several European countries, EU countries, and then have um yeah, build up their customer base from that. And once they have a solid amount of customers within the EU, um most likely they will they will start launching their payers as well. Just a matter of time. Some of these Monzo features, they sound very intentional, like €300 of fee free ATM withdrawals being 100 more, the savings account being better than Revolute. Do you think there is an argument that you could make that Monzo have clearly looked at the incumbent which is funnily enough Revolute now and Monzo the challenger?

[00:05:22]You think Monzo looked at what Revolute are offering and go well we've got to we've got to do better than them and it's not even that challenging.

[00:05:27]>> It's not challenging and in the UK they're already doing better than them.

[00:05:30]If you compare Revolute Standard to Monzo's standard account, Monzo is clearly the winner. It's it's not even a question. Monzo has the better pure financial um benefit banking account 100%. Yeah.

[00:05:44]>> No questions asked.

[00:05:45]>> Yeah. And that and that's quite clear from, you know, how much money Monzo are making per customer and the amount of deposits they've got per customer. Um, which we'll get on to shortly. But I just I I just want to hold on this for a moment. So, if Monzo are offering initially a better bank account, basic bank account than Revolute, the challenge is going to be overcoming the stickiness of Revolute's products because they're not offering that yan.

[00:06:10]Not yet, at least. You know, this is initially an a beta test almost, but they have to start offering package stuff, don't they? They've got to get they've got to find the the Monzo Max for Europe. They've got to find the Monzo perks for Europe to try to overcome the stickiness of Revolute customers because there will surely be people that are happy with the basic banking features, but love the extras that Revolute have to offer. And if you're watching this, listening to this, and you, you know, you're in the European Union and you're using Revolute, we'd love to hear from like what what compels you to use a bank account that isn't necessarily that competitive. Like Yan's just laid out the free tier. That's what we're talking about today. The free tier offering 1.15% savings, you know, limited ATM withdrawals. Are you using that tier?

[00:06:54]And if you are, what compels you to use it? Cuz there must be something better.

[00:06:58]I mean, I was looking at Open Bank, I think. Or is it Open Bank from Santandere Yan?

[00:07:02]>> Open Bank. Yeah, exactly, >> buddy. They're offering €200 of cash back annually. They pay €20 per month for having two direct debits. I mean, that's got to be more compelling than what Revolute are offering, right?

[00:07:11]Because at least you can get that money back, particularly if you don't have a large amount of savings or you put your savings elsewhere because Revolute aren't really offering much in terms of savings. So, what is it? It must be the products. It must be the extras, right?

[00:07:21]It must be the subscription tiers that make people stick to Revolute.

[00:07:25]>> No, it's a good question. So if you can if you can outbank Monzo, if you can if you can if Monzo can outbank Revolute and outbank them on the extras that could then start, you know, competition then could really ramp up.

[00:07:39]>> Yeah, I think I think it's also >> it's already I mean sorry >> funny I think it's also the seamlessness the the app right the intuitiveness if you um open bank for example it's a good example but the the app is just not as good as revolutes. I would say Revolute, you know, they do so much marketing around that. They they want to be the the challenger bank, the travel card, right? If you go to a Spanish airport, if it's an international one, chances are you'll see some some sort of Revolute ATM or you see some sort of Revolute advertising, they're literally everywhere now and they're growing so fast, it's insane. And um sometimes not the companies with the best products win, but the companies that do the best marketing. And Revolute Standard is is an entry point. people start with Revolute Standard as they would start with with Monzo 3 tier and then you know look at other tiers as they >> you know as they're satisfied as as time passes um you know they might decide to upgrade to premium to metal in order to make the most out of it but I don't think that's it's literally in in anyone's mind when they sign up with Revolute initially >> interesting word of mouth was a big big way for Monzo to acquire customers here in the UK I mean they were one of the first digital banks so it was quite easy to talk about them you know in pubs bars clubs at work. You know, the orange hot coral card or the orange card was attractive. People would ask you, "What is that?" Yeah, I don't think that's going to have the same effect in Europe because we know that digital banking has already taken off and like you just mentioned, Revolute have got a fantastic app. They've got all sorts of funky cars themselves as well. So, I don't know if that's going to be a huge pull either.

[00:09:05]While I think Monzo have got obviously I agree, I think they've got the better banking product. still don't see how again curious to hear what people have to say about this in the comments how they can dethrone or even take some of Revolute's market share besides those people like us like the people probably watching and listening to this that have like an interest in these things so they open the account cuz they're interested in seeing what it looks like but at a large scale I think Monza are going to have to do a lot to try to take a wider European audience and start to get the momentum of word word of mouth >> they have big pockets right they have big pockets they they make $1.7 billion in uh pounds Sorry. 1.7 billion pounds in uh in revenue every single year. Um >> amazing amazing from from how many customers?

[00:09:47]>> Uh from 15.2 million overall customers.

[00:09:50]And that's more more per customer than Revolute earns actually. It's a it's a nice side effect. So Monzo earns 112 per customer per year and Revolute on the other hand they only earn 66 per customer per year. Um and that's yeah it's quite fascinating right. So why does Monzo earn twice as much for per customer than Revolute does for example?

[00:10:08]I guess because Monzo is the better core financial product. People people choose Monzo for their daily banking because they believe that the standard tier is already good enough and more comprehensive than than what Revolute provides. And Revolute on the other hand, it's it's uh you know a good good additional account that you might have alongside your your existing high street bank account or Monzo account.

[00:10:29]>> Yeah. So Monzo have twice as much money per head but far fewer customers. That is fascinating. Yan. And that must come from the interest that well a significant portion of that I imagine is being earned on the interest that they have or or generate from customer deposits >> potentially >> which is I believe 2525.7 billion pounds in customer deposits.

[00:10:55]>> That's half of what Revolute has, right?

[00:10:57]Half.

[00:10:57]>> Revolute has exactly 50 billion pounds in deposits and so many more customers.

[00:11:03]Will people treat Monzo in the same way they treat it in the UK though in Europe whereby they seem to have more faith in depositing large sums of money? We know Revolute have only just become licensed in the UK. That's probably been a bit of a a challenge caused a bit of friction.

[00:11:18]Um you know Monzo are going into Europe somewhat unknown. They don't have the same I don't know brand equity or reputational equity that they have here in the UK. So people might be a little fearful to deposit money with Monzo in Europe. They're going to have to overcome that as well. Whereas Revolute have been licensed in Lithuania since 2018 have, you know, had deposit protection all that time. That might be a barrier of entry as well here, Yan.

[00:11:41]>> Well, not sure. Monza holds a banking license, so there's literally um it's literally equal equally good, right? An Irish banking license is equally good to a Lithuanian one. Same deposit protection. Um and therefore, what's the issue? I don't think that people in Europe really think a lot before before deciding to invest uh or to deposit a lot of money within with with their bank because there's literally zero risk.

[00:12:06]>> So what are people in Europe looking for?

[00:12:07]>> What are they looking for? It's a good question.

[00:12:09]>> You know, chime in on the comments please, by all means. But what are you looking for then? You know, are you looking for a revolute with are you looking for the whole package or do you just want your you just want a better bank account because that's what Monzo are going to offer you here. And trust me, their app is fantastic. I know Yan Yim got access to it. I've used it. I've tested it for months. I've got videos on the channel if you want to learn a little bit more about it. Um, it's fantastic and it's just as good as Revolute, if not better. It's more subjective in some degree. So, you might like the colors, the layout of Monzo, but ultimately the products comparatively to Revolute in terms of budgeting, like the basic banking stuff like budgeting, savings, savings challenges, Revolute and Monzo are tied.

[00:12:48]So, how how are you going to how how what is going to attract you to one or the other? That's what I want to hear.

[00:12:54]That's what I want to know about.

[00:12:55]>> That's a good question. I can say I can speak for me personally. Um, if I was in Europe right now looking for for for a decent bank account, it's probably the the core financial benefits that would attract me. Um, also, as people know, I I hold the Revolute account, but it's literally just my side account and I'm not subscribed to any paid tier because I'm not in need of these subscriptions.

[00:13:12]Personally, I do know people who who use these piers who are very very satisfied and obviously take advantage of them.

[00:13:18]And there, you know, don't misunderstand me. It's not a not me criticizing their patience. I believe they hold a lot of value if you use these subscriptions.

[00:13:24]But >> for me personally, if I was to to to look for a bank account to open up, you know, I would I would literally look at the core financial benefits because then I'm in need for a bank account and not for a subscription bundle.

[00:13:36]>> I don't know a huge amount about business banking in the European Union, but if if it's anything like the UK, it's probably behind personal banking slightly by a few years and a bit more legacy, a bit older, a bit more archaic.

[00:13:47]Yeah. And I I imagine the savings rates aren't that good. And Monza are also going after business banking customers.

[00:13:53]Um, which they're already more successful at in in the UK comparatively to Revolute. Um, even though they're, you know, four to five times smaller than Revolute, they've actually got more business banking customers. So, they're going to take that playbook, they're going to apply it to Europe, and they've already got like tiers, like paid tiers.

[00:14:09]Yan, I think there may be three tiers that they've got for business banking customers in Ireland. Um, so then, you know, they're unafraid of having paid tiers. Okay, that tells you something.

[00:14:18]And I think that we'll see that in Europe. I think they will launch with different, you know, they'll launch different subscriptions, different paid tiers in the European Union because that is also just a fantastic source of recurring revenue. It's also super super important. I just want to take a slight slight sidetrack and talk about Chase Yan just quickly because and there is this is important. I want to get your thoughts on this savings. Is this attractive? Because neither cha neither Monzo or Revolute are really offering a very compelling savings rate. But Chase UK, now Chase DE, Chase Germany have just just launched 4% savings in in Europe. Do you think that is necessary to compel people? You know, Revolute are offering a better savings rate to European to the European Union if you pay for it. Maybe that's something Monzo will need to consider as well cuz I mean, we're sport for choice in the UK, but 1.6% is what Monzo offering. Is that even attractive, mate? I I I don't I don't get it. It's better than Revolute, but it's not Chase who are offering 4% in Germany.

[00:15:16]>> Yeah, Johnny, that comparison just doesn't hold up. You cannot compare GBP interest rates with EUR interest rates at the moment. Um, the base rate in the UK is 3.75% base rate in the in the European Union is 2.0%. Um, and therefore, Monzo offering 1.6% that's 20% lower than the BA base rate. That's that's that's as if they were offering um yeah, make the math here really quick. Um 20% of 3.75% like 3% or so in the UK, right? So it's it's decent. It's not not bad at all.

[00:15:51]Obviously, they're better better UK savings rates available. Just take a quick look at depositcout.com. Um hate to plug that in here right now, but it's it's it's it's a good example. But Monzo by no means they're it it's bad. 1.6% is somewhat competitive. And yes, Chase launched in Germany at 4%, but that's also limited for four four months. And that's a savings account, a pure savings account, uh, to my understanding. But there are better options. If you're just looking for for savings rate, you could you could go sign up with Trade Republic. Um, they have a current account in place that's available within several EU countries. Um, I mean, actually, I think most of them um, offers 2% um, and that's tied to the base rate. So Monzo is not winning on the on the raid, but I also don't think it's a it's a criteria that would exclude them, you know, from from being a good bank account.

[00:16:36]>> Yeah. To be fair to them in Ireland, like they started with a waiting list of 100,000 people. Like they're already off to a pretty good start out there. Now they've got this very competitive bank account with this good savings account.

[00:16:47]Word of mouth should help with their growth. Whether or not it can put them on the same trajectory, the same growth path as Revolute, that's yet to be seen.

[00:16:55]That would be incredibly impressive if two to three years from now they're catching up with Revolute. But by offering a better foundational bank account, they could certainly certainly puts them on the right track. You know, who's going to win in Europe if we look across a 5 to 10 year path outlook, Yan?

[00:17:10]I mean, uh, if I was to put my money, okay, let's do this. This could be fun, right? Who would you bet on being the bigger European bank? So, forget about the UK. We're talking about European Union. Forget about the UK. Forget about the rest of the world. Who's going to be bigger in the European Union in five in in in 10 years?

[00:17:26]>> Yeah, Johnny, that's a good question.

[00:17:28]Um, Revolute obviously has a big head start, but I would say Monzo with their current banking product, which is superior to what Revolute has to provide in their free tier. I would say they catch up fast. That's my guess. And I would say they probably be be um they probably somewhat on the same level in a few years. That's my guess. Um, Revolute might have a few more customers, but Monzo would have probably more more active customers or more more valuable customers because they just attract people because they they offer good banking and they don't attract people because they have so many so many different subscriptions. Um, and that's yeah, that's that's that's my point of view here. Could be wrong. Time will tell. This episode is sponsored by us, specifically depositscout.com, which is a site that Yan and I built with our fingers. Savings rates in the UK are changing constantly and most people have no idea whether the account they're still using is competitive. The rate that topped the market 6 months ago might be in the bottom half of the table today and your bank is certainly not going to tell you. Deposit Scout tracks every major savings account and cash ice in one place so you've got easy access fixed rates and they're all updated daily. And you can set up rate alerts so you're never caught out. We've also just added rate history graphs. And this is where it gets interesting. Take Plum for example. You can see they've changed their advertised rate repeatedly over the past few months. So that tells you that if you like the look of one of their rates, you're probably better off locking in sooner rather than later before they move it again. All of that and much more is available at depositscout.com. We'll put the link in the description box below. Monzo have closed the US and I think this is important context. They've not retreated necessarily. They've just dialed down to focus on Europe. Whereas if you look at Revolute's operation, it is global >> from Japan to Australia to New Zealand to South America. So they're spread thin. Um but they also Revolute don't really have capital constraints, do they? They've got a $75 billion valuation. There'll be an IPO at some point to raise money. I'm sure Monzo will IPO at some point as well to raise money, you know, and they're also the the primary bank account for a lot of people in not only Spain, but France and Germany. They do have a significant advantage, but at the same time, Monzo's focus will lie heavily in Europe. Now, the UK is set and forget almost, and they're going to gun for Europe, and I think that will work in their favor.

[00:19:44]>> That's an advantage.

[00:19:45]>> And if anyone can compete with Revolute Yan, it's Monzo. I think when you look at the others, N26, Bunk, I think from a branding perspective, N26 has some problems. I think Bunk is too expensive.

[00:19:58]Yeah. Monzo are offering a free account that is better than Revolute that is better than a lot of the competition and it is on top of an fantastic app, fantastic customer service, great brand equity, reputational equity in the UK.

[00:20:14]So, they have a significant opportunity here. I mean, Yan mentioned something interesting about Monzo immediately having a better travel card because they're offering Mastercards FX rates rather than Revolute's own exchange rate, right, Yan? So, is Revolute your current travel card? Uh, people in Ireland, you know, if you're in Spain, Germany, would you consider changing to Monzo when they launch because they're offering you probably going to be offering you a better travel card.

[00:20:37]>> What could stop them?

[00:20:38]>> Capital >> regulatory problems.

[00:20:40]>> Regular. Yeah, >> that's the thing. That's that's what stopped N26 in the past. They had many issues with people um trying to do criminals essentially signing up um trying to I don't know, launder money through their accounts or something. I'm not exactly sure what what happened there, but the the German financial watchdog had to restrict them um so tightly. Um at one point they were I think not allowed to onboard any new customers anymore. Um and that's you know for a bank that's in hyperrowth stage. It's like um if you're taking a bath bath and you you pull out the pluck, right? It's that's what happens there. It's it's not good at all, right?

[00:21:14]Um, and it's literally it took out all the >> Yeah. all the power, all the fuel, you know, and then >> they just lost the battle >> and then >> they lost the battle.

[00:21:24]>> Exactly. And then they've been forgotten, man. Their branding was never strong that strong.

[00:21:27]>> They were on par with Revolute in the beginning and they they were even even superior in Germany and then it just died out. Their product just isn't as good. Their product just isn't that good.

[00:21:36]>> Maybe Revolute would just absorb them.

[00:21:38]You know, this could be a bit of a cons consolidation phase.

[00:21:40]>> Hey, that's a good >> neo banking and financial tech. Revolute could just buy out N26.

[00:21:44]>> Yeah, maybe that's what we we'll see in the future. The the bigger challenger banks um acquiring the the smaller ones.

[00:21:50]I mean, it would be natural.

[00:21:51]>> Monzo might have problems with regulation. They may have problems with capital expenditure like they've been so dependent on word of mouth. I think 76 or 79% of their customers, new customers in the UK come through word of mouth.

[00:22:01]That's not going to work in Europe.

[00:22:02]They're going to have to be willing to spend on marketing, which >> yeah, >> you know, their pockets aren't as deep as Revly. That could stop them.

[00:22:08]>> They're still very deep, but >> they're still very deep.

[00:22:11]>> Ultimately, they're still very deep. And ultimately they are very squeaky clean.

[00:22:15]I think they had some anti-moneylaundering issues or some regulation issues regarding like new accounts were being set up with like funny addresses. I don't know if you remember reading about this. People were setting up addresses as like 10 Downing Street. They're still a lot cleaner I think in terms of reputation than Revolute and that's going to be on their side here. So I don't really see anything that could necessarily stop Monza from succeeding. Keen to hear what people have to say about that one as well. you know what could prevent Monzo particularly if you are you know a European or a non you know like I'm I'm European I'm from the UK but you know what I mean from the European Union particularly love to hear like what you know what could stop Monzo from compelling you to sign up what is it that you're looking for a lot of things to talk about in the comments so please jump in let us know your thoughts and um pleasure as always right Yan >> pleasure as always it's been it's been great um good topic also um I'm curious what everyone has to say right into the comments as Johnny just said and um Yeah. We see you in the next episode hopefully.

[00:23:09]>> Mhm. Yeah.

[00:23:10]>> Like and subscribe.

[00:23:14]>> See you soon.