Monzoisclosing its US banking operations after struggling to gain traction in the market, and will instead focus on its core UK and European business.
The UK digital bank, famed for its bright coral cards, will stop onboarding new customers and lay off about 50 employees in the US, according to a report in Bloomberg. US customers can continue to use their accounts until June.
Themove marks a key strategy decision by new CEODiana Layfield, who replaced TS Anil as CEO last month.
Monzo said: “With a fast-growing customer base of 15 million in the UK and the growth opportunity our European banking licence creates, we’re making a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on scaling in our home market and Europe to step away from the US.”
Monzo first made a play for the US market in 2020 but withdrewits application for a US banking licence in 2021. But it has continued to hold a presence in the US. The challenger bank, which has over 15m customers, has offices in New York and San Francisco, with itsUS business headed up by US CEO Conor Walsh, a former Cash App executive.
In December last year, Monzo, which already has a UK banking licence, won a European banking licence.
The challenger bank has been vocal about its EU expansion plans.
Last month, Monzo rival Revolut said it was making a fresh attempt to secure a US banking licenceas itscaled up its ambitions in the US market.