Announced today, challenger bank Monzo has opened up its recently launched API to Moneybox, an app which rounds up purchases and invests the small change into simple tracker funds.
Since its launch in August 2016, Moneybox manages over 1m transactions each week to help its users save and grow their money through its service. As a result of January’s Open Banking and PSD2 regulatory releases, Moneybox expects to be able to expand its user base further through additional partnerships with both fintech firms and traditional banks like Santander in the near future.
The app has already established connections with others in the space, including the rival Starling Bank back in April 2017. Moneybox gained FCA authorisation last month, after becoming the fifth financial services firm to launch its own competitively-priced Lifetime ISA (LISA) in December.
Ben Stanway, co-founder of Moneybox said: “Offering round ups to Monzo users has been one of our most popular feature requests since we launched Moneybox. We’ve had thousands of people asking for this integration and are delighted to launch it today.
“We're currently working on a number of other integrations and believe the Open Banking initiative will enable us to help many more people start saving and investing towards their future."
Similarly, Starling Bank's payments services business has today announced an API integration with payments fintech Soldo, which allows businesses to control company spending by providing employees with customisable prepaid cards and business accounting software. The integration means that Soldo can now offer UK bank account numbers and sort-codes.
Starling has also become the first UK challenger bank to offer Merchant Acquiring alongside its payment services. The platform has said the addition will allow its business banking customers, small to mid-size retailers and clients of its payments services to accept card payments from major payment schemes like Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
Julian Sawyer, COO at Starling Bank, said: “The rollout of Merchant Acquiring is an important milestone for Starling as we seek to join the dots of the payments value chain and offer new services that continue to benefit our customers. Our goal is to offer next generation acquiring services simply, quickly, and cost-effectively – so that our customers can focus on what’s really important to their business.”
Monzo’s API has had a quick uptake since it went live to coincide with Open Banking’s launch in January, already attracting partnerships from other fintech firms like personal finance app Emma and an API integration with TrueLayer.
Tom Blomfield, CEO and co-founder of Monzo added: "At Monzo, our mission is to give people more choice and more control over their money, and everything it touches. Through integration with our API, users can access helpful tools like Moneybox to help them save, grow or manage their money in a safe, secure way.”
Emma CEO Edoardo Moreni and Starling CEO Anne Boden are set to discuss marketplace partnerships next month at the AltFi London Summit, alongside a host of other digital banks, alternative lenders and major fintech players. You can register for tickets and find out more information here.
