Starting today, UK challenger bank Monzo is rolling out its third-party marketplace to users of its current account as part of a controlled beta-testing period.
Monzo has said that it has teamed up with several companies to show its users a variety of products and services, and gain feedback for its future third-party offerings.
The bank has yet to publicly disclose which firms it will be working with, but AltFi can reveal that those invited to join the beta will gain access to savings accounts offers from Clydesdale Bank, Shawbrook Bank and fintech challenger OakNorth. In addition, energy switching services are being piloted with Bulb, Octopus Labs, Ovo and Tonik.
Monzo’s head of partnerships Phil Hewinson said in a statement to Monzo users: “At Monzo, we believe that the only way to build a brilliant product is by listening to and acting on your feedback. To do that, we launch early, test and iterate.”
“The Marketplace Beta is an ongoing test that we’ll continue to expand and add new products and features to over time. It will help us gather valuable feedback, to inform and improve what we do in the future.”
“Our goal is to build Monzo into a sustainable business. In the future, we hope that this marketplace model will be an important part of how we do that. If we are able to help people save or better manage their money, we eventually hope to earn commission on every customer we refer. In these early tests, we’ll be totally transparent about if and when we stand to make money in this way.
“If we want to build a sustainable bank that solves people’s problems, that means that our incentives and our customers’ need to be the same: what’s good for us, is also good for you.”
The digital bank opened up an interim API to third-party providers earlier this year, coinciding with the launch of Open Banking. Partnerships so far include micro-investments app Moneybox, as well as personal finance app Emma.
AltFi will be exploring the future of banking marketplaces in dedicated sessions at the AltFi London Summit on March 26th, joined by speakers from across the global fintech community. You can register for tickets and see the latest list of speakers here.
