‘Monzo challenger’ Viola Black breaks cover

At the beginning of the year a new digital banking app dubbed Viola Black lay down the gauntlet with a “move over Monzo” tagline that it plastered all over London buses. 

Things seemed to go quiet after that with some, of a conspiratorial nature, even questioning whether the thing was orchestrated by Monzo in some sort of strange guerilla marketing campaign. 

It seems not. “Viola Black is now ready for you to use. (Hooray!),” an email to its beta list said this weekend.  

“You may remember a while back you signed up to Viola Black. You will be pleased to know while you’ve been waiting, we’ve been busy and (drum roll please…),” it added.

The new digital banking app, which offers multi-currency accounts and a prepaid card, will officially launch on Monday 22nd July.

So why has taken us so long? The company explains, thus:

“Firstly, we wanted to make sure we have a product which is different to all the rest. Secondly, and more importantly, we wanted to make your user experience the best it can be. Security has been at the forefront of our priorities and we have launched a slow release to ensure that”.

Viola Black is a trading style of Violacard Limited. A quick glance of Companies House shows the firm was incorporated in January 2017 and its office is based in Bridgend, Wales. The firm has two current officers Ashley Hollington and David Harris.

Unlike Monzo, the basic service is not free, however, with Viola Black asking for a minimum £4 per month. It may take a bit more to get Monzo to budge.