Monzo refocuses on America with first female CEO

Monzo has hired a new US CEO as it doubles down on its upcoming American launch following a number of delays to its expansion into the world’s largest market for financial services.

Carol Nelson will step into the role previously held by Group CEO TS Anil, as first reported by TechCrunch,  to help shore up the US-based side of the business.

Nelson has worked as a strategic adviser for the digital bank since December 2019, helping Monzo with its US banking licence application, which it submitted to the US regulator back in April 2020.

The new US CEO is a director for a number of companies, including sportswear company Brooks Running, and previously was CEO of Cascade Bank and before then worked at the Bank of America for over two decades, most recently as a senior vice president. 

Nelson will step into TS Anil’s shoes after the former US CEO moved into the role of Group CEO after co-founder Tom Blomfield stepped down as CEO in May 2020 and subsequently left his role of President in January 2021.

Monzo’s US outfit remains a small one, with only a handful of employees after the digital bank shuttered its Las Vegas-based customer support office in June 2020, making 165 staff redundant in the process. 

The news of Monzo’s new US CEO comes just days after rumours began swirling that the digital bank was in the midst of adding another extension to its already impressive Series G.

Monzo has reportedly topped up its latest funding round with a $50m extension at the same $1.25bn price tag as the previous raises in the Series G, and a 40 per cent discount from its previous Series F raise.

As it stands, Monzo is just a stone’s throw away from reaching five million customers, with 70,000 of those holding a Monzo Business account and roughly 100,000 being paying customers for Monzo’s Plus and Premium subscription packages.