Monzo’s relaunches its Plus premium offering with Open Banking integrations

After several delays and misfires, digital bank Monzo is finally relaunching its premium Plus subscription today with a host of new features.

The flagship feature of Monzo Plus, priced at £5/month with a 3-month minimum term, is deep open banking integration with other bank and credit card accounts like HSBC,Barclays and Lloyds, letting customers view and move money between these accounts.

Another feature being wrapped into Plus are Monzo’s virtual cards for customers to spend online without sharing their actual bank card details, monthly credit scores from the bank’s integration with TransUnion, and 1 per cent interest on all balances up to £2,000.

“With this version of Monzo Plus we went back to basics, and re-examined how we built things. We thought really hard about why people love Monzo and listened to our customers and our community,” said Monzo’s chief product officer Mike Hudack.

“Over and over again we heard that people love Monzo because it gives them more control and visibility over their money. So we’ve doubled down on that and created a premium product that we believe makes Monzo even better at managing your money, refocused on benefits that help customers today and in the future.”

Several other smaller features are being included in the package, like custom budgeting categories, discounts and offers with Monzo partners, £400 fee-free withdrawals abroad and a holographic blue Monzo card.􏰛􏰋􏰏􏰋􏰊􏰅􏰉􏰪􏰛􏰎

Monzo’s subscription service has a checkered past originally launching Plus in April 2019 with headline features like travel insurance, larger travel money allocations and premium Monzo card colours.

In September 2019 the bank scrapped Plus, refunded customers and put a new team on the project admitting the service’s launch and reception “didn’t go according to plan”.

This April 2020 Plus resurfaced after the project manager told its community that a planned launch had been delayed as a result of Coronavirus and that “it just isn’t the right time” for a bundle that had been planned to include several travel benefits.